
Oass 

Book 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



H- 



/ 



IOWA CITY 



CONTRIBUTION 



TO THE 



EARLY HISTORY OF IOWA 



/BY 
/ 
BENJAMIN F. SHAMBAUGH, M. A. 



Published by the 

STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA 

IOWA CITY, IOWA 



1893 /^^^p^-'^'^Hr '^:^ 



Copyright, 1893, 
By Benjamin F. Shambaugh. 



^^' . 
-\<=^ 



PREFACE. 

Iowa City is interesting chiefly as the historical capital 
of Iowa. The object of this monograph, therefore, will 
be to deal with the history of Iowa City as a factor in 
the early history of Iowa. And under this treatment it 
is proposed to study the town in a two-fold aspect : as 
an 07-gan of the state performing the functions of a 
capital, and as an organism illustrating the character, 
manners and customs of pioneer life in Iowa. The 
period covered in these pages extends from the found- 
ing of Iowa City in the year 1839 to the final removal 
of the capital to Des Moines in the year 1857. 

No previous attempt having been made to write the 
history of Iowa City, this monograph is necessarily the 
result of original investigation. Fortunately, however, 
inasmuch as Iowa City has always been the seat of 
the State Historical Society, there has drifted into the 
library of this society important material on the subject 
which otherwise would have been lost or carelessly 
destroyed. As to sources of information I have for the 
most part rehed upon contemporaneous newspapers, 
letters, original manuscripts and miscellaneous papers. 
The facts relative to territorial and state legislation — to 



iv Preface. 

which I recur frequently — were all taken directly from 
the official reports. To all of these sources I have 
made copious references in the foot-notes in order to 
assist in verifying the statements found in the text, and 
to facilitate the labors of the future student. 

While pursuing a course of graduate study I pre- 
pared a thesis upon "Iowa City, the Historical Capi- 
tal of Iowa," which was' accepted for the degree of 
Master of Arts at the State University of Iowa in June, 
1893. In connection with the preparation of this thesis 
I owe acknowledgements to Professor W. R. Perkins, 
at whose instance it was written. 

In May, 1893, extracts from the original thesis were 
thrown into the form of a lecture and delivered at Iowa 
City before the State Historical Society of Iowa. At 
the request of Dr. J. L. Pickard, President of the State 
Historical Society, I undertook, with a view to its pub- 
lication by the Historical Society, a broader and more 
thorough presentation of my study, of which the fol- 
lowing pages are the result. 

For assistance in the preparation of the monograph 
as it now appears, I am especially indebted to Isaac A. 
Loos, Professor of Political Science in the State Uni- 
versity of Iowa. His criticisms and suggestions on the 
arrangement of my material have been invaluable. To 
Professor Loos I am also grateful for an appreciation of 
scientific methods of study, and for the kindly personal 
interest which he has taken in my work. 



Preface. v 

To Dr. Theodore S. Parvin, librarian of the Iowa 
Masonic Library at Cedar Rapids, I am indebted for 
valuable information and suggestions. And to Messrs. 
H. W. Lathrop and M. W. Davis, of the State His- 
torical Society, I am grateful for many favors. 

B. F. S. 
Augtist^ i8gj. 



CONTENTS. 

Introduction. page 

Geological 2 

Historical 4 

I. 
Early Land Claims. 

Claim Associations 7 

Claim Association of Johnson County 9 

Claims to the Site of Iowa City 10 

Claims to Section Ten 13 

Claims to the N. W. Quarter of Section Fifteen ... 15 

II. 
The Founding of Iowa City. 

Preliminary Legislation 17 

Selecting the Site 20 

The Site 25 

Surveying the Town 26 

The Town Plat ". 30 

The First Inhabitants 32 

The First Sales of Lots 34 

III. 
The Beginnings of Municipal Life. 

Growth and Development 37 

An Old Fashioned Economy 39 

Mail Facilities 40 

Public Roads 41 

Ferries 42 

Commerce 44 

Mining 46 

The Common Industries 47 

The Iowa City Manufacturing Company 47 

Local Politics 51 

The County Seat 51 

Early Justice 54 



viii Contents. 

IV. 

The Territorial Capital. 

Coming of the Assembly 57 

Erection of the Capitol 59 

Financial History of the Capitol 65 

Cost of the Capitol 72 

Local Government of the Territorial Capital 73 

V. 

Educational Beginnings. 

Mechanics' Academy 77 

Snethen Seminary 80 

Iowa Citj' College 80 

Iowa City University i . . 82 

From Private to Public Schools 85 

Iowa Female Collegiate Institute 86 

School for the Blind 88 

School for the Deaf and Dumb 89 

Churches 89 

VI. 

The State Capital. 

First Constitutional Convention 91 

The Boundary Dispute 92 

Negro Suffrage 9-1 

' Second Constitutional Convention 97 

The Abolition of Banks 98 

An Era of Progress 100 

Early Railroad Projects loi 

Davenport & Iowa City Railroad Company 103 

Mississippi & Missouri Railroad Company 105 

A Municipal Corporation 107 

Municipal Improvements 108 

A Political Center 109 

VII. 
Removal of the Capital. 

Agitation for Removal no 

Monroe City 11 1 

Des Moines 113 

Third Constitutional Convention 113 

The Great Compromise 115 



INTRODUCTION. 

Iowa Cit}' has a peculiarly significant history. Father- 
ed by the Territory and located in a frontier wilderness 
upon unsurveyed lands this town, unlike any other town 
in Iowa, was a special creation. In point of origin it 
resembles more the Roman provincial town than the 
ordinary x\merican city. For fourteen years of its his- 
tory it was without corporate organization; and during 
this period it was subject directly to territorial and state 
legislation. Iowa City is preeminenth' the historical 
capital of Iowa. 

Its location on the frontier called into existence the 
most powerful claim association ever known to have 
been organized in Iowa. Here assembled the men who 
first formulated into constitutional and statutory pro- 
visions the fundamental principles of Iowa law and 
jm"isprudence. It was the objective point of the first 
railroad agitation west of the ]Mississippi River. And 
later on it became the seat of higher education. 

Located on the left bank of the Iowa River, Iowa 
City is about sixtv miles directly west of the Mississippi, 
one-half that distance from Muscatine, eighty-six miles 
from Dubuque, eightv miles east of the Raccoon fork of 
the Des Moines River, seventy-five miles from Burling- 
ton, and eightv-three miles north of the Missouri State 
boundary line. Near the geographical center of Johnson 
Count}', its latitude is 40° 38" north, and its longitude 
90° 30" west. 



2 lozva City. 

The topography of the town site was unique — remind- 
ing the tourist of the city of St. Omer in France. Lying 
tifty feet above the water level of the Iowa River, the 
land was beautifully carved into the form of a vast 
amphitheater. On the west there is an eminence run- 
ning parallel with the river and covered with large 
white oaks.i From this eminence the land descends 
from five to seven degrees to the eastward. On the 
northwest a high bluff, shaded by oak and hickory trees, 
overlooks the river to the west and slopes gradually 
down to the south and east. To the north, northeast 
and less prominently eastward rises a range of hills 
covered with hazel shrubbery and scattered growths of 
oak. While on the south there is a plain followed by a 
receding eminence crowned with heavy timber. The 
basin of this natural amphitheater, which in some places 
Avas spongy enough to mire a horse, was drained by a 
-small stream now known as "Ralston Creek. "- 

Geological. 

Of all that long period of organic and inorganic evo- 
lution which must have preceded the dawn of the 
Devonian Age the rocks of Iowa City bear no inscrip- 
tions. The earliest geological records of the site of 
Iowa City date back no farther than the beginning of 
the Devonian Age.^ Then low^a City lay at the bottom 
of a clear, shallow, open sea, whose waters stretched 
out limitless toward the west and southwest. This sea 

1 A few of the primitive oaks arc still standing on the campus of the 
State University. 

2 Named in honor of Robert Ralston, one of the three commissioners 
who located Iowa City. 

3 See Professor Samuel Calvin in Iov-jg Ilisfon'cal Record, Vol. I, No. 3 



Juirodiictioii. 3 

at first swarmed with millions of mailed worms of an old- 
fashioned type, whose numbers, however, were greatly 
reduced as time went on. Then, along with a variet}' of 
low-typed sponges, there flourished luxuriant growths 
of coral. These coral formations alone have made Iowa 
City famous in the scientific world. In 1864, Agassiz 
himself collected some wdth his own hand.^ Crinoids, 
peculiar sharks and mail-clad fishes also inhabited this 
ancient sea. Finall}- the Devonian Age came to an end 
and with its close the life of the brachiopods, corals, 
sponges, sharks, fishes and crinoids also came to an end. 
Slowly the shore line of the sea retreated w^estward and 
the present site of Iowa City became a part of the North 
American continent. But this was not the last of its 
subaquatic life. For deposited beds of sandstone tell us 
that the whole site was again submerged shortly before 
the close of the Carboniferous Age. In time the sea 
acrain receded with the movements of the earth's crust. 
Exposed to the powerful influences of the elements, the 
rocks were carved into hills, basins and river courses. 
As this destructive work went on, long geological ages 
passed by solitarily. The Glacial Period came on with 
its fields and mountains of crushing, grinding ice. Dur- 
ing this period there was on the site of Iowa City a lake 
of unfrozen water surrounded by icy barriers. But this 
lake with its icy barriers too passed away, leaving all 
thinfrs from that time on to verdure and to fife. Of 

1 Professor Agassiz visited Iowa City in March, 1864, for the purpose 
of examining the coral formations in this locality. He was entertained 
by Professor T. S. Parvin at whose request he came to Iowa City. 
While here he delivered two lectures. One was delivered before the 
public in general, and was on the "Coral Reefs of Iowa City;" the 
other was on " Glaciers '' and was addressed to the Faculty and students 
of the State University. 



4 lozva City. 

anim.als there flourished an infinite variety of species, 
from the minute worm and insect to the elephant and 
the mastodon. 

Historical. 

The events that took place on the site of Iowa City 
from the time that life first manifested itself to the ap- 
pearance of man — the struggles for supremacv, the wars 
of species, the conflicts of individuals, the survivals of the 
best and the stamping out of the unfit — must forever 
remain unknown. And respecting its occupation by 
man previous to the advent of the European, we can 
only say that it formed an infinitelv small part of the 
hunting grounds of the Indians. As to the possible 
predecessors of the Indians, too much has alreadv been 
written and too little is actually known to call for fur- 
ther observations here. 

Father Marquette was the first white man to penetrate 
the wilderness of what is now the State of Iowa. One 
hundred and thirty-two years after the discovery of the 
Mississippi b}^ Ferdinand DeSoto, and one hundred and 
three years before the writing of the Declaration of 
Independence, he journeyed far into the then lonely 
valley of the Des Moines. His journey is one of the 
incidents in the sad history of the many fruitless attempts 
to convert the Indian tribes of the Great Lakes and the 
Mississippi Valley to the faith of Rome. Yet the failure 
of Marquette's mission will never detract from the deep 
interest which all Iowa has in that romantic journey of 
the fearless priest into the primeval wilderness of the 
Des Moines vallev- 



Introdtiction. 5 

That portion of the Louisiana Purchase^ which falls 
within the limits of Iowa was originally a part of the 
"District of Louisiana" placed under the jurisdiction of 
the Indiana Territor}-. The District of Louisiana became 
the "Territory of Louisiana" on the 4th of July, 1805, 
in accordance with an act of Congress approved on the 
3rd of March preceding, and embraced that part of the 
purchase which lay north of the 33rd parallel. When in 
181 2 the Territory of Orleans, lying south of the 33rd 
parallel, became the State of Louisiana, the Territory of 
Louisiana was named Missouri. 2 In 1S19 the Territory 
of Arkansas was created and Missouri, a year later, 
became a State wdth substantialh' its present boundaries. 
The large tract, hitherto included in the Territor}' of 
Missouri, lying west and north of the State of Missouri 
was not then formally reorganized; and the future Ter- 
ritory of Iowa was left apparently without local govern- 
ment for fourteen years. ^ Joined to the Territory of 

1 That large tract of territory, known as Louisiana, was first dis- 
covered by tlie Spaniards; but througli failure to occupy, it was lost to 
France. By treaty on the loth of February, 1763, France transferred it 
to the Spanish crown. Spain ceded it back to France October ist, iSoo. 
Again by a treaty which was signed on the 2nd of May, 1S03, and ratified 
by the Senate of the United States about the middle of October, 1S03, 
Louisiana was purchased by the United States. By act of Congress, 
October 31st, 1S03, a temporary government was authorized for the 
newly acquired territory. " The annexation of Louisiana was an event 
so portentous as to defy measurement; it gave a new face to politics, 
and ranked in historical importance next to the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence." — (Henry Adams, Hist, of U. S. Vol. II, page 49.) 

8 U. S. Stat, at Large, Vol. II, 743. 

' I say apparenfly without local government, for as a matter of fact 
the settlers of this district did exercise the functions of local govern- 
ment. Their rules, regulations and courts had, it is true, no legal sanc- 
tion ; but they had what was actually more authoritative in a new 
country — they had the sanction of the community. 



6 lo-^va City. 

Michigan on the 2Sth of June, 1834, ^o'" ^'^"^'^ ^nd judicial 
purposes,^ Iowa became a part of the Wisconsin Terri- 
tory in July, 1836." Two years later, on the 3rcl of July, 
1838, it was established and designated as the "Terri- 
tory of Iowa," with a temporary capital at Burlington.* 
In January, 1839, the first Legislative Assembly of 
the Territory appointed commissioners to select a site 
within the limits of Johnson County'* upon which to 
locate the seat of government of the Territory of Iowa. 
At the place thus selected the commissioners were 
ordered to found a town to be called Iowa City. 

1 U. S. Stat, at Large, Vol. IV, 701. 

- Ibid, Vol. V, 10. 

s Ibid, Vol. V, 235. 

* Johnson County was organized by an act of the Council and House 
of Representatives of the Territory of Wisconsin, approved June 22nd, 
183S. Previous to the passing of this act, Johnson County had been a 
part of Dubuque County, created by the Territorial Assenibly of Michi- 
gan in September, 1S34. 



EARLY LAND CLALMS. 
Claim Associations. 

To the superticial observer the general statement, that 
the site of Iowa City, originally a part of the Public 
Domain of the United States by right of purchase and 
treat}', was donated by the General Government to the 
Territory of Iowa for public purposes, has been an all 
sufficient resume. Yet this statement contains no refer- 
ence to the most interesting chapter in the history of 
Iowa City landed property — interesting not only to those 
who are directly concerned in Iowa City real estate, but 
also intensely interesting to the student of "Institutional 
Beginnings in the Mississippi Valley." The history of 
"early land claims" goes back of all government records 
and is to be found in the history of the claim associa- 
tions alone. 

The earliest claims to land west of the Mississippi 
River were made by pioneer farmers (or squatters) in 
direct violation of an act of Congress prohibiting settlers 
from trespassing on the Public Domain. These early 
land-holders, without titles or patents from the United 
States, had no legal rights to the soil they occupied and, 
therefore, could expect no protection from the General 
Government. In consequence there grew up a system 
of popular government peculiar to the pioneer communi- 
ties of the West. It was a novel system based upon the 
organization known as "Claim Association" or "Land 
Club." 



8 lozva City. 

Each community or township had its own distinct land 
association, the principal object of which was the pro- 
tection of the bona fixlc settlers in what they pleased to 
call their rights in making and holding claims ^ — protec- 
tion against "speculators," "land sharks" and greedy 
settlers. Disputes between members of an association 
were arbitrated by the "Claim Court" or "Claim Com- 
mittee." From the decisions of this court or committee 
there was no appeal. Intentional failure to abide b}' the 
laws of the association was punished by boycott, ostra- 
cism, public condemnation, tar-and-feathers and the lash. 

The maximum amount of land allowed to any one 
settler varied in the different communities from one 
hundred and sixt}- to four hundred and eighty acres. 
Boundaries of claims were designated by section and 
township lines, if the public surve3's had been com- 
pleted, otherwise by blazed trees, streams, hills, stumps, 
stakes and rocks. These claims the settlers continued 
to cultivate and improve until the land was offered for 
sale by the government. 

As the time announced for the public sale approached, 
all claims were carefully recorded and marked off on 
the township map. A "bidder" for the whole com- 
munity was then appointed by the association. At the 
sale he held the marked township map, and as fast as 
the claims of the members of his association were called 
by the auctioneer, he would bid the minimum price of 
one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. And at this 
price the land was invariably bought; for no one dared 
bid against an original claimant. Let an outsider be so 
bold as to put in a counter bid, and in an instant he 
would be "knocked down" and compelled to withdraw 
his offer, or risk his life at the hands of the members of 



Early Land Claims. 9 

a claim association, who were all there ready to "do 
their duty." At home as at the public sale, the mem- 
bers were always fully protected in their rights. And 
this, let it be understood, was no second rate protection. 
For the law of the association was the supreme rule of 
the community against which no man dared raise his 
hand. 

The Claim Association of Johnson County. 

As soon as Johnson County \yas seriously mentioned as 
thtj county in which the capital of the Territory of Iowa 
would probably be located, emigrants began to examine 
their maps for the favored district and make prepara- 
tions for a journey to the frontier. Anticipatin.g a rush 
of immigration, the " squatters " already in Johnson 
County took steps — immediately after the passage of the 
act definitely fixing the location within the limits of their 

county — toward formintr of an association for the better 

" *. ... 

protection of their rights in making and holding claims. 

After several preliminary meetings the " Claim Associa- 
tion of Johnson Count}"" w'as formally organized on the 
9th day of March, 1S39, at a public meeting attended by 
nearly every "squatter" in the county. 

The Claim Association of Johnson County was well 
supported by the community for which it \yas created. 
Its laws and resolutions were at all times strictly observed 
and loyally upheld. "Claim-jumping" was prevented;^ 
and at the ixovernment land sales the association secured 

1 I have been able to learn of only two cases of "c'.aim-jumping" in 
Avhich the association was concerned. One was an atteinpt on the part 
of Mr. Crawford to "jump" a claim made by Mr. Sturgis; the other 
attempt was made by Mr. Charles Berryhill, who was promptly given 
the required number of lashes by Mr. Joseph Stover, of the claim 
association. 



lO lozva City. 

to its members the privilege of purchasing their claims 
at the average minimum price of one dollar and tvventv- 
five cents per acre. "New-comers" were compelled to 
respect the regulations of the association. Most of them 
acquiesced willingly and signed the constitution. Robert 
Lucas, Iowa's first Governor, having purchased a claim 
in the county, acknowledged the sovereignty of this 
pioneer organization by subscribing to its constitution 
and handing in his own claim for record.^ 

Claims to the Site of Iowa City. 

But the peculiar circumstances surrounding the dona- 
tion of a part of the Public Domain by the United States 
to the Territory of Iowa, and the founding of a town b}- 
the Legislative Assembly on that land were such, that 
settlers, unfortunate enough to have made or purchased 
claims on the soil thus appropriated, could find no pro- 
tection even in the Claim Association of Johnson County. 
For the claim associations were always bound to respect 
the rights of the United States.- With but two exceptions 
the claimants to the town site of Iowa City received no 
remuneration for their claims or their improvements.^ 

1 Other prominent men whose names are attached to the constitution 
of this claim association are: S. C. Hastings, one of Iowa's early Repre- 
sentatives in Congress, and afterwards a Judge of the Supreme Court 
"of Iowa, and also a Judge of the Supreme Coiu-t of California; Morgan 
Reno, Territorial and State Treasurer of Iowa; S. H. McCrorv and 
Henry Felkner, members of the Legislative Assembly of Iowa; and 
Robert Ralston, one of the commissioners who located the capital at 
Iowa City in 1S39. 

* The claim associations in the west, let it be borne in mind, were 
organized not to protect settlers against the government, but to protect 
them against speculators and unscrupulous "squatters." 

3 In speaking of the site of Iowa City in this connection, I wish to be 
understood as referring not only to section ten, the original Seat of Gov- 
ernment, but also to the addition made soon afterward for the location of 
the Johnson County Court House, the northwest quarter of section fifteen. 



Early Land Claims. Ii 

The first exceptional case was that of J. G. Morrow, of 
Bloomington.i It is recorded, that on the 2nd of January, 
1S39, Samuel Bumgardner, of Johnson County, sold to 
J. G. Morrow, of Muscatine County, the southeast quar- 
ter of section ten, township seventy-nine north, range 
six, west of the fifth principal meridian. This quarter 
section became a part of the town site. The territorial 
commissioners, therefore, in consideration of the claims 
of Mr. Morrow, granted him the privilege of bidding in 
at a nominal price one of the first lots offered for sale. 
The second exceptional case was that of Andrew D, 
Stephen in the locating of the seat of justice for Johnson 
County. According to the records, Mr. Stephen had 
purchased simply the one equal undivided half of the 
northwest quarter of section fifteen. But from another 
source^ it is learned that "A. D. Stephen, Esq., held the 
claim and resided upon the northwest quarter of section 
fifteen." It is further learned from this same source 
that the county commissioners before preempting this 
quarter section purchased the same of Mr. Stephen. 
Thus it will be seen that in two cases the claims of the 
occupants of what was then a part of the Public Domain 
were respected. 

The first claim to any part of section ten was made 
by Samuel Bumgardner in October, 1837. It included 
the iouthwest fractional quarter; and according to the 
records this was the only .part of section ten claimed 
by Mr. Bumgardner. But it is also recorded that Sam- 
uel Bumgardner on the 2nd of January, 1839, sold to J. 
G. ^Morrow, the southeast quarter of section ten. There- 

1 Bloomington is now known as Muscatine. 

2 A brief sketch of the early history of Johnson County, written hy 
Cyrus .Sanders and Henry Felkner. 



12 lozva City. 

fore, it would seem that Mr. Bumgardner had claimed 
the whole south half of section ten. On the 4th of April, 
1S39, the southwest fractional quarter was sold to John 
Kight. The north half of section ten was claimed about 
the 15th of June, 1838, by Samuel B. Mulholland and 
William Willson. It is not recorded that this latter claim 
was ever sold. 

As to the northwest quarter of section fifteen, it is 
recorded that on the 3rd of January, 1839, Samuel Bum- 
gardner sold to Andrew D. Stephen "that part which 
13'es east of the Iowa River." On the 20th of February 
of the same year, Andrew D. Stephen sold to William 
Willson "the North west quarter of section fifteen" for 
the sum of two hundred dollars. William W^illson held 
the claim a little over eiaiit months when he sold "the 
one Equal undivided half" to Andrew D. Stephen, and 
the other equal undivided half to John Kight. It is prob- 
able that, in this sale b}' William Willson of the two 
equal undivided halves of the northwest quarter of sec- 
tion fifteen, Mr. Kight got the north half and Mr. 
Stephen the south half. This supposition is based on 
the fact that Mr. Kight's claim in section ten lay just 
over the line dividina" sections ten and fifteen. Ao-ain as 
to the northwest quarter of section fifteen, it is recorded 
that on the 26th of February, 1840, Walter Clark made 
claim to "all that part of the N W qr of Sect 15 
in Township 79 N R 6 west which Lyes west of the 
Iowa River in Johnson County." Over a year after- 
wards it is further written that Andrew D. Stephen 
wishes to have the same portion of section fifteen 
recorded to him "if not recorded to John Kight." The 
records do not show that it was ever recorded to John 
Kight, unless it was included in the "one equal undi- 
vided half," which was "quit claimed" to the said John 



Early Land Claims. 13 

Kight by William Willson on the ist of November, 
1S39. 

These records, it will be observed, are not entirely 
satisfactor}'. For in one instance, Mr. Bumgardner has 
only a part of the south half of section ten recorded to 
him, but afterwards sells the whole of the south half. 
Again, in the case of the northwest quarter of section 
fifteen there seems to be a little vagueness. Mr. Bum- 
gardner sells to Andrew D. Stephen that part which 
lies east of the Iowa River. But Mr. Stephen sells 
the northwest quarter of section fifteen to William Will- 
son. Mr. Willson divides the quarter and sells it again. 
Then four months after this last transfer by William 
Willson, Walter Clark claims "all that part of the N W^ 
qr of Sect 15 which Lyes west of the Iowa River." 
i\nd over a vear after this Mr. Stephen asked that it be 
recorded to him. All this discrepancy may, however, 
be explained away by the probable supposition that in 
certain cases claims and deeds were not handed in for 
record. The preliminary surveys^ had of the claims 
also may not have corresponded exactly to the subse- 
quent government survevs. Then too, claims were fre- 
quently forfeited, in which cases they were usually 
recorded to some other settler. 

Claims to Section Ten.^ 

The following is a description of a Part of a claim I wish recorded that 
was made in October 1S37. the same beeing two fractions the south west 
fractional quarter of section Ten & the south East fractional quarter of 
section nine Lying on the Iowa River Town 79. N. R 6. W. Johnson 
County Iowa Territory containing 160 acrs.* 
handed in 3rd April 1839 Saml Bumgardner 

1 Surveys made by the settlers previous to the government surveys. 
* The Manuscript Records from which the following extracts were 
taken are preserved in the library of the Iowa State Historical Society. 
' Taken from original MS., page 11. 



14 lozua City. 

The following is a description of a claim we made about the 15 of June 
183S. beeing the N. W. qr of Sect 11 & the North half of section Ten 
Town 79 N R 6. West of 5 principal meridian which we wish recorded 
to us' 

Samuel. B. Mulholland 
handed in April 6th 1S39 William. Willsox. 

This Indenture made this second day of January 1S39 between Samuel 
Bumgardner of Johnson County and Territory of Iowa of the one part 
and J G Morrow of the County of Muscatine of the Territory aforsaid 
of the other part Witnesseth that the said Samuel Bumgardner for and 
in concideration of the sum of fifty Dollars, to him in hand paid by the 
.said J G Morrow, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged has 
bargained sold and quit claim deed given to the said Morrow to a certain 
tract of Land clamed by him described as follows, beeing the south 
east quarter of Section Ten (10) Town 79 N R 6 west and the south 
West quarter of section Eleven Town 79 N R. 6. W. beeing one mile 
and a half from tlie Town line of Napoleon bounded on the west by the 
Iowa River the said Bumgardner for and in concideration of the amount 
of money paid is to build the said Morrow upon said claiin a House of 
the following dimensions Viz sixteen by 14 Feet wide to be put up and 
covered in a substantial manner with Doors & windows said House to 
be finished by the 16 day of March A D 1839. witness our hands and 
seals this 2 day of January 1839.^ his 

Samuel -|- Bumgardner [seal] 

witness mark 

Philip. Clark J G Morrow [seal] 

A. D. Stephen" 

handed in Jime 12th. 1S39. 

Know all men by these presants that I Samuel Bumgardner for and in 
consideration of one hundred Dollars to me in hand paid the Receipt 
where of is here by acknowledged have bargened sold and for ever quit 
claimed unto John Kight all my right title interest claim estate and 
demand what ever to all those tracts or parcels of land known and 
described as follows the same beeing two fractional quarters, containing 
about one hundred and sixty acres and situated on the Iowa River, the 
same beeing the south west fractional quarter of Section Ten and the 
South East fractional quarter of section Nine Town 79. N. R 6 west of 
the 5 principal meridian lying & beeing in the County of Johnson & 

' Taken from original MS., page 14. 
* Ibid, page 31. 



Earl\' Land Claims. 15 

Territory of Iowa against the claims of all persons Except the united 
states I warrent iS: defend the claim above mentioned up to this date 
given under my hand & seal this 4 day of April 1839.1 
Jiandcd in April 6th 1839. Samuel Bumgardxer. [L S] 

Claims to the Northwest Quarter of Section 
Fifteen. 

This quit claim Deed made this third day of January 1S39 witncsseth 
that I. Samuel Bumgardner has this day bargened and sold and by these 
presents doe bargen and convey to Andrew D Stephen (boath partees 
of the County of Johnson and Territory of Iowa) all my right title 
interest and claim in and to the following Tract or parcel of land lying 
and beeing in the county and Territory aforesaid the same beeing the 
North west quarter of section Fourteen North east quarter of section 
fifteen and that part of the North west quarter of section fifteen that 
lyes East of the Iowa River the above quarters beeing in seventy Nine 
North six west of the fifth principal meridian for the sum of seventy 
five Dollars, to me in hand paid by the said Andrew Stephen given 
under my hand and seal and date above written 2 

attest. 
Samuel. H. McCrory^ Samuel Bumgardxer. [L. S.] 

Samuel C Trowbridge. 
admitted to record March 15th 1839. 

This quit claim deed made this. Twentieth day of February One thou- 
sand Eight hundred & Thirty nine witnesseth that A D Stephen has 
this day bargened sold and conveyed and by these presents doe baigen 
sell and convey to William Willson boath parties of the county of 
Johnson & Territory of Iowa A certain tract parcel or claim of land 
lying &. beeing in the county of Johnson & Territory of Iowa the same 
beeing the North west quarter of section fifteen Township seventy nine 
North Range 6 west of the 5 principal meridian according to a survey 
made by George Bumgardner for the sum of Two hundred Dollars, 
the receipt of which is here by acknowledged given under my hand this 
day and date above written ■* 

handed in March i6th 1839. (Delivered) 

A D Stephen 

1 Taken from original MS., page 14. 

- Ibid, page i . 

* Secretary of the Claim Association. 

* Taken from original MS., page 6. 



1 6 Iowa City. 

Know all men by these presants that I William Willson for and in con- 
cideration of the sum of four hundred Dollars to me in hand paid the 
receipt of which is hereby acknowledged I have bargened and sold and 
by these presants do for ever quit claim to Andrew D Stephen the fol- 
lowing claim tract or parcel of land Lying and beeing in the Countv of 
Johnson & Territory of Iowa the same beeing the one Equal undivided 
half of the N. W. qr of Sect 15. Town 79. N. R. 6. west and the one 
Equal undivided half of the S. W. qr of Sect Twenty Three (23) Town 
79 N. R. 6. west of the fifth principal meridian given under my liand 
and seal this ist day of November 1S39. 

handed in November 1st 1S39. William Wilson [seal] 

Know all men by these presants that I William Wilson has this day 
bargened and sold bv these presants do for ever quit claim to John 
Kight the following claim tract or parcel of land for tlie sum of one 
hundred Dollars the receipt of which is here by acknowledged the same 
claim tract or parcel Land lying and beeing in the County of Johnson 
& Territory of Iowa and beeing the one equal untlivided half of the N 
W. qr of Sect 15. Town 79 N R 6 west of the fifth principal meridian 
given under my hand & seal this first day of November 1S39 ^ 

handed in November ist. William Wilson [seal] 



Walter Clark has this day made the following Claim Towit all of that 
part of the N W qr of Sect 15 in Township 79 N R 6 west which Lyes 
west of the Iowa River in Johnson County Febuary 26th 1840^ 

handed in Febuary 2Slh 1S40 Walter. Clark 

The Following is a description of a claim if not recorded to Kight and 
me I wish you to record it to me made this 10 day of March 1S41 that 
part of the N W qr of Sect 15 Lying west of the River Township 79 N 
Range 6 west ■» 

handed in March nth 1S41. A D Stephen 

1 Taken from original MS., page 40. 

* Ibid^ P'Tgt' 40- 

* Ibid, page 4 1 . 

* Ibid^ page 49. 



Section Ten and the North-West Quarter of Section Fifteen, 
North West Quarter. \ North East Quarter. 



MuLHOLLANp & WiLLSON. 



lie 



Sotitk West garter. 



South East Quarter 



Samuel Bumgardner. 



John Kight. 



J. G. Morrow. 



^ 



< H 

S ., 



John Kight. 



■r.< 



J Andrew D Stephen. 



1-5 



II. 

THE FOUNDING OF IOWA CITY. 
Preliminary Legislation. 

As to origin and causes of growth, Iowa City differed 
widely from the ordinary town. Usually a town is sim- 
ply the expansion of a small community — a country 
village enlarged. Sometimes it centers about a mine, 
or clings to some great river course. It flourishes at 
the junction or terminus of large railway S3-stems. It 
springs up where fields are fertile and harvests abundant. 
And favorable commercial points are never long without 
the shop, the store and the ofiice. In all cases the ordi- 
nary town has a natural unplanned origin, and grows by 
reason of the superior advantages of its location. With 
Iowa City, however, it is all different. This town was 
not simply the expansion of a group of country dwelling 
houses. Without mines, it had over one thousand inhab- 
itants before railroads had reached Chicago. Before the 
sod of the surrounding country had been turned, Iowa 
City was, with the exception of Dubuque and BurHngton, 
the most prominent town in Iowa. In short, Iowa City 
was a specially artificial creation, deliberately^ planned 
and created by the Territory of Iowa to afford a location 
for the permanent seat of government of the Territory. 
Having grasped this fact we have the key to the origin, 
growth and character of the town. 



1 8 Jozoa City. 

The founding act of Iowa Cit}-, "An Act to locate 
the Seat of Government of the Territory of Iowa, and 
for other purposes," ^ passed at the first session of the 
first Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Iowa, was 
approved January 21st, 1839. This act provides that 
the Legislative Assembly shall meet at Burlington until, 
by proclamation of the Governor, the public buildings at 
the permanent seat of government shall be declared 
ready for its reception; that three commissioners, con- 
sisting of one person from each judicial district of the 
Territory, shall be appointed by joint ballot of the Coun- 
cil and House of Representatives, to locate and establish 
a permanent seat of government; that said commission- 
ers, or a majority of them, shall, on the ist day of May, 
meet at the town of Napoleon and proceed to locate the 
seat of government at the most eligible point within the 
limits of Johnson County; that they shall agree upon a 
plan and issue proposals for the erection of the necessary 
public buildings; that they shall agree upon one of their 
number to be " Acting Commissioner," whose duty it 
shall be to superintend daily in person the rearing and 
finishing of said buildings; that they shall employ one or 
more' competent surveyors and all other hands necessary 
and shall have six hundred and forty acres of land laid 
out in lots, out-lots, streets, squares, and alleys at the 
place where the seat of government is located, if practi- 
cable; and that they shall have the town platted. 

"An Act supplementary to 'An Act to locate the 
Seat of Government of the Territory of Iowa, and for 
other purposes' "2 provided further that so soon as the 
place shall be selected, and the consent of the United 

' Stat. Laws of la. Ter., ist Leg. AssV, page 435. 
- Il'id, page 437. 



The Fotinding of lozva City. 19 

States obtained, the commissioners shall proceed to lay 
out a town to be 'called "Iowa City;" that after a plat 
of the town shall have been recorded, the Governor shall 
direct a sale of lots to be held under the direction of the 
commissioners, the proceeds of which shall go into the 
Territorial Treasury, to be expended as may be directed 
by law; that the acting commissioner shall give bond to 
the United States in the penal sum of forty thousand 
dollars for faithful performance of duty; that the Gov- 
ernor shall apply to Congress for a donation of, or a 
preemption to, four sections of land on which to locate 
the seat of government of the Territory of Iowa; and 
Chauncey Swan, John Ronalds, and Robert Ralston 
shall act as commissioners to locate the seat of govern- 
ment and superintend the erection of public buildings. 

In accordance with the fourth section of the act sup- 
plementary to the act locating the seat of government of 
the Territory of Iowa, and in the manner prescribed b}' 
a joint resolution 1 of the Council and House of Repre- 
sentatives, Congress was asked to donate "at least four 
sections on which to locate the seat of government of 
the Territor}^ of Iowa." Congress took action on the 
matter by passing "An Act making a donation of land 
to the Territory of Iowa, for the purpose of erecting 
public buildings thereon." - This act was approved 
]March 3rd, 1839. ^^ directed that only one section ^ — • 
instead of four — be selected; which section must be on 
surveyed lands. Furthermore, the second section of this 
act provides, "That if, at the time of the selection of 
land to be made as aforesaid, the contiguous sections 
thereto have not been made subject to public sale, or 

1 Resolution No. 12, Stat. Laws of la. Ter., ist Leg. Ass'y, page 519. 
5 U. S. Stat, at Large, Vol. V, 330. 



20 loiva City. 

being so subject have not been been sold at public sale 
or by private entry, then each and every section con- 
tiguous to said selected section, and not so sold, shall be 
thereafter reserved and withheld from sale in any man- 
ner, untd the further order of Copgress thereon." This 
provision was not repealed until August, 1842.^ 

Selecting the Site. 

It now remained for the territorial commissioners to 
select the site. The morning of May ist, 1839, found a 
small group of somewhat roughly clad pioneer settlers 
collected at Napoleon to await the arrival of the commis- 
sioners. For over three months these sturdy farmers 
had been looking forward to the coming of the commis- 
sioners with intense interest and delight. But on this 
particular morning they carried a look which betrayed 
anxiety. Each man desired that the location be made 
near his own claim, 3^et at the same time he was fearful 
lest it should include his land and improvements. For^ 
they all well knew that they had, to the land they 
occupied, no rights which the United States or the Ter- 
ritory of Iowa were bound to respect. But as the day 
advanced this anxiety took an unexpected turn. 

Burlington and the counties in the southeastern part of 
the Territory were bitterly opposed to locating the seat 
of government in Johnson County. And it was thought 
that an attempt had been made to prevent a majority 
of the commissioners from meeting on the ist day of 
May as directed by law.^ The only commissioner on 
the grounds on the morning of May ist, was Chauncey 
Swan, of Dubuque County. As noonday approached, 

1 U. S. Stat, at Large, Vol. VI, 846. 

2 lo-wa Historical Record^ Vol. VI, 564. 



The Fotinding of loiva City. 21 

and no other commissioner appeared, the crowd began 
to suspect fraud. There was novv excitement and alarm 
lest the entire county should be cheated out of the 
prized location. 

It is said that about noon the excitement became 
intense, when Chauncey Swan mounted a dry-goods box 
and made a short speech to the agitated crowd, present- 
ing the situation as follows: The Legislative Assembly 
had directed the locating commissioners to meet at Napo- 
leon on WiQ first day of May. Should a majority of them 
fail to meet on that day, their actions would be null and 
void. Chauncey Swan then called for a volunteer who 
would undertake to bring another commissioner before 
midnight. This certainly seemed like a hopeless under- 
taking; for John Ronalds, of Louisa County, the nearest 
commissioner, resided thirty-five miles from Napoleon. 
It would, therefore, require a ride of seventy miles in 
twelve hours, including all stoppages and ferrying the 
Cedar River both going and coniing. But a young lad 
named PhiHp Clark stepped boldly out and volunteered 
his services. 

Henry Felkner, who was among the anxious crowd 
at Napoleon on that memorable May day, continues the 
narrative as follows : " Of course there was much anxiety 
lest the effort should prove a failure. Fears were enter- 
tained that [John] Ronalds might not be at home, or 
not disposed to come, or that he could not reach the 
place in time. But these were all idle fears, for as soon 
as [Phihp] Clark told him the situation he got ready at 
once and they started wdth the determination to reach 
their destination in time. While they w'ere going at 
their best speed the watchers at Napoleon had their 
doubts and their fears, and as it began to draw on 



22 lozva City. 

towards midnight, and no tidini^s, their fears began to 
give way to despair. | Chauncey] Swan often consulted 
his watch and then would send some one out to listen. 
But no sound could be heard. This was repeated fre- 
quently, until at last the sound of horses' hoofs were 
heard in the distance, approaching rapidly. They did 
not slack up till they had arrived at the place of meeting. 
And when the riders dismounted and went in, | Chaun- 
cey] Swan again consulted his watch and found that 
it was just five minutes to twelve o'clock." Robert 
Walker, a Justice of the Peace, was on hand to admin- 
ister the oath, which was signed by the commissioners 
and the date "May ist, 1839" thereunto affixed. It has, 
however, been shrewdly intimated by one present, that 
perhaps the hands of Mr. Swan's watch were turned 
back that night; "for it was noticed that from midnight 
to sunrise were the shortest six hours on record." It is 
not improbable that Mr. Swvan did either stop his watch 
or turn back its hands; for it is difficult to understand 
how^ a man on horseback could travel seventy miles in 
twelve hours over such roads as existed in the Territory 
at that time. 

On the morning of Ma}' 2nd the two commissioners, 
Chauncey Swan and John Ronalds, "proceeded to exam- 
ine the County of Johnson with a view to select the most 
eligible point for said location." ' Thev did some pre- 
liminary surveying. The location was finally made on 
Section Ten, Township Seventy-Nine North, Range Six 
West of the Fifth Principal Meridian, on the 4th day 
of ^lay, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine. 
The site was indicated by a post or slab, driven in the 

' Report of Acting Com., House Jonr., 2nd Leg. Assy, la. Ter., 
page 90. 



The Founding of Iowa City. 23 

ground about where the old capitol building now stands, 
bearing the following inscription :i 

SEAT OF GOVERNMENT, 

CITY OF IOWA. 

May ^t/i, iSjp. 

C. SWAX, 1 

I 

John Ronalds, y Coniinissioncrs. 

RoBT. Ralston, j 

Witness, 

Geo. W. Kelly, } ^ ^r • 
T TT -^T T^ ' ^"^s Moines. 

J. H. McKenny, \ 

J. W. IsETT, Louisa. 

J. Dillon, Dubuque. 

Sec. 10, T. 79, R. 6, W. 5th Mer. 

Robert Ralston, of Des Moines County, the commis- 
sioner who did not appear at the meeting on the ist of 
May, arrived at Napoleon on the 6th of May and agreed 
to the proceedings of the majority of the commission- 
ers.- On the 7th day of May, Chauncey Swan was 
appointed by the board, " Acting Commissioner " to 
superintend in person the affairs in connection with the 
seat of government. 3 

The commissioners after making the location on the 
4th day of May agreeable to the laws of the Territor}-, 
found that by the act of Congress of March 3rd, 1839, 
the location was to be made on " survej^ed lands." 

1 Chas. Negus in Annals of lozvu. Vol. VII, 3-6. 

* Report of Acting Com., House Jour., 2nd Leg. Ass'y, la. Ter., 90. 

' Ibid, page 90. 



24 Iowa City. 

Thereupon the commissioners unanimously agreed to 
send a memorial to the President of the United States, 
respectfully requesting a special surve}' of two town- 
ships in Johnson County, embracing the seat of govern- 
ment.^ The object of this was to make the location as 
perfect as possible under the act of Congress as well as 
that of the Territory. Accompanying the memorial, 
which was forwarded by Chauncey Swan from Dubuque, 
was a request from the Surveyor General's office at 
Dubuque, calling for the survey of twelve other town- 
ships, in addition to the two townships above mentioned. 
The commissioner of the General Land Office at Wash- 
ington immediately ordered the survey of the two 
townships as requested by the commissioners in their 
memorial. 2 

It was further provided by the act of March 3rd, 1839, 
that notice of the selection shall, within one year from 
the passing of the act, be officially returned to the Regis- 
ter of the Land Office in the district in which the land is 
situated. This provision was compHed with in October, 
1839. When at the second sale of lots in Iowa City, 
which took place early in October, John Ronalds and 
Chauncey Swan, commissioners, "did then and there 
give notice to the Register of the Land Office at Du 
Buque, that the seat of Government of Iowa Territory 
was located on section ten. Township seventy-nine north, 
and Range six west of the fifth principal meridian."^ 

1 Report of Acting Com., House Jour., 2nd Leg. Ass'y, la. Ter., 
page 93. 

* The commissioner of the General Land Office regretted that on 
account of scarcity of funds he could not order the survey of the addi- 
tional twelve townships. 

* Report of Acting Com., House Jour., 2nd Leg. Ass'y, la. Ter., 
page 92. 



The F'oiinding of lozva City. 25 

The Site. 

Judging from the present appearance of Iowa City, 
with its seven thousand inhabitants, its University, its 
houses and graded lots, its semi-graded streets and door- 
yard trees and bushes, it would be impossible to form 
anything like a realistic conception of the town site as 
it presented itself to the territorial commissioners in 
May, 1839. 

As early as October, 1S37, a claim was made to a part 
of the site by a pioneer farmer. ^ But up to the time 
of the meeting of the commissioners, little or nothing 
had been done in the way of preparing the ground for 
cultivation. The whole site, therefore, was practically 
in its wild and natural state. It was a wilderness, in 
which the Indian camp-fires had scarcely gone out. 
Poweshiek with over a thousand red men camped but a 
few miles to the south. Few white men had settled 
farther west. 

A Burlington newspaper of that day says : "The most 
vivid imagination can scarcely picture to itself so capti- 
vating a spot, situated in the midst of all that wild and 
rural scenery which can tend to embellish and render it 
desirable. The river first approaches the town from the 
north, through rocky banks of moderate height, covered 
with a thick grove of stately trees, and then runs to the 
south, and flows off between unequal banks scattered 
over with venerable oaks. Opposite the city, on the 
west side of the river, the banks are abrupt and bold, 
and rise from the water's edge about fifty feet above 
its surface to the level of a smooth prairie, which ap- 
proaches the bank of the river at this place and then 
sweeps off westward in beautiful undulations of hill and 

1 See Chapter I on " Early Land Claims," page 13. 



26 Io7va City. 

dale." These banks of the Iowa River contained an 
inexhaustible store of good building rock. 

Added to resources of the earth was an abundance of 
timber. The large grove near the site was described in 
these words: "Big Grove, which is situated between 
the Iowa and Cedar Rivers, has been pronounced to be 
one of the largest and best bodies of timber in the 
Territory, being about twenty miles in length, with an 
average width of six or seven miles." As for building 
material the town could not have been more favorably 
located. The surrounding country was a variation of 
hill, prairie and forest. 

Surveying the Town. 

Nearly two months after the locating of Iowa Cit}-, 
the town survey was begun. "On the twenty-seventh 
day of June, A. D., 1839, ^'- '^'^'^^ ordered by the board 
of locating commissioners, that Thomas Cox and John 
Frierson^ should be employed to survey Iowa City, and 
L. Judson to draw the necessary plats." In company 
with these men and the necessary hands, Chauncey 
Swan, the acting commissioner, returned to Iowa City 
in the latter part of June, and on the ist day of July 
began the work of laying out the town into streets, 
alleys, squares, blocks and lots.^ 

The surveys were well under way when all work was 
suspended in honor of a public celebration. It was the 
Fourth of July, 1839. '^^^ settlers of the neighborhood 
in conjunction with the town surveyors had planned 
what they were pleased to call " a good old-fashioned 

1 Thomas Cox represented Jackson County, and John Frierson repre- 
sented Muscatine County in the First Legislative Assembly of Iowa. 

2" It is a well known fact " sa^'s Mr. Swan in a report to the Assembly, 
"especially to surveyors, that this is a very unfavorable season of 



The Fotinding of Iowa City. 27 

celebration," to be held on the site of the future capitol. 
A tall young oak tree, which stood on the spot now 
occupied by the old capitol building, was stripped of its 
branches and to its top the national flag attached. Here 
for the hrst time the stars and stripes were unfurled to 
wave over the frontier capital. The day was a pleasant 
one. Pioneer settlers for miles around came together 
to enjoy this first crude social event. Many of them 
shook hands on this occasion for the first time. The 
regular dinner was prepared at an Indian trading house ^ 
about four miles down the Iowa River and brought to 
the celebration in a lumber wagon. Added to this 
regularly prepared meal were the baskets of provisions 
brought by the settlers. At the proper time this " picnic 
dinner" was served on wagon boxes, lifted from the 
very wagons which had brought the settlers and their 
famihes "to town." After dinner toasts were offered 
and responded to. The Declaration of Independence 
was read. John Frierson delivered the oration of the 
day. 2 While delivering this oration the speaker stood 
in a wagon which had been drawn into the shade to 
serve as a platform. 

the vear for surveying in the western country, in consequence of the 
luxuriant growth of vegatation, accompanied by the heavy dews that 
prevail at this season of the year, making it almost impossible to com- 
mence the labors of the day at anything like an early hour, without 
exposure to sickness and death. The consequence is that only about 
two-thirds of a day's labor can be performed in twenty four hours." 
— ^Journal of the House of Rep. of 2nd Ass'y, Ter. of Iowa, 122. 

1 This trading post was known as " Gilbert's Trading House." The 
dinner was prepared by Jonathan Harris, who at that time was keeping 
tavern at the trading house. 

8 The orator is described by Cyrus Sanders as a tall, spare, raw-boned 
and hard-featured man, who stood up in a wagon with one foot elevated 
upon a barrel of Cincinnati whiskey and made a speech far surpassing 
in eloquence and ability the average productions on similar occasions. 



28 lovja City. 

After the celebration "the work of surveying the town 
was pushed forward energetically. The ground for the 
capitol square was selected first, the southeast corner 
being established as the initial starting point. From that 
point the west line of Clinton street was run north and 
south, and established as a meridian line. The survey 
was extended eastwardly and westwardly without ever 
having any definite base line established. The lines 
were run with an ordinary surveyor's compass, and 
measured with a pole twenty feet long, made of two 
.strips cut from a board and nailed together. It was 
graduated to feet and inches by a carpenter's square, 
and afterwards each end was bound with a hoop of iron; 
and in measuring, tally pins about one-eighth of an inch 
in diameter were used, which added about three-six- 
teenths of an inch to every twenty feet."^ 

The special survey of township seventy-nine,- ordered 
by the commissioner of the General Land Office at 
Washington, was so far completed before the survey of 
the town was finished, that the bounds of the town were 
closed on the government lines as established by the 
surveyor appointed to survey the said township. At the 
southeast corner of the section a monument of rough 
^rey limestone was erected as a permanent landmark. 
It still stands on Summit street, a novel relic of the 
founding of Iowa City. Covered with the marks of an 
advertising dry-goods merchant it certainly reflects dis- 
credit upon the art sense of the present residents of Iowa 
City, who are content to allow such ruthless defacing of 

1 Cyrus Sanders in a brief sketch of the early history of Johnson 
County. 

* John Frierson was appointed by the Surveyor General of Iowa and 
Wisconsin to make this survev. 



The Founding of Iowa City. 



29* 



historical landmarks. There are two inscriptions on this 
historic monument. 

The inscription on the 

side facing the west reads :. 

IOWA CITY 

The Capital of 

Iowa Territory 

as situated on 

Section N^ 10. 

Township 79 N. R. 

6 W of the 5tii Pi- M 

located 

May 4th 1839 

By Messrs 

Chauncey Swan 

John Ronalds 

and 
Robert Ralston 
Comm'-s «fe Surveyed 
By Messrs 
Cox Frierson & Judson 
under the direction of 
C. Swan Actg Com 
" It required over two thousand stakes to be used on 
the location and something like fifty hewed posts from 
six inches to one foot square, and from six to nine feet 
long for the corners of the town plat, the public square, 
and reservations. For boarding the surveyors and hands 
employed, I paid at the rate of four dollars per week. 
The amount paid for surveying, including all the expense 
of surveyor's hands, teams, setting of posts, and the 
necessary plats of the city is $1,476.99."^ 

1 Report of Acting Com., House Jour., 2nd Leg. Ass'j, la. Ter., 
page 122. 



The inscription on the 
side facing the east reads: 

M. VANBUREN 

President of the u. s. 

and 

R. LUCAS 

Gov. of the Territory 



30 lozva City. 

The Town Plat. 

L. Judson's plan of Iowa City as drawn bv him in 
1839, and laid out by the surveyors, was appropriate 
for a capital city. The streets were run directly east 
and west, and north and south. A square of about 
twelve acres was laid out on the eminence near the west 
boundary of the town. This square commanded a view 
of the Iowa River on the west, and nearl}^ the whole 
of the town on the east. It was designated " Capitol 
Square," being specially reserved as a site for the public 
buildings. The block upon which the Chemical Labora- 
tory of the State University now stands was to be the 
city " Park." On the extreme eastern boundar}- of the 
section an out-lot, west of Governor street and lying 
between the Avenue and Washington street, was re- 
served as " Governor's Square." The present College- 
hill Park was designated on the map as " College 
Green." Three squares, each equal to the ordinary 
block, were reserved in different parts of the town as 
markets. " North Market " included the southeast quar- 
ter of block thirty-five, the southwest quarter of block 
thirty, the northwest quarter of block twenty-nine and 
the northeast quarter of block thirty-six. "Center Mar- 
ket " was the block now occupied by the city Grammar 
and High Schools. " South Market " included the block 
upon which the B. C. R. & N. R. R. depot now^ stands. 
The west half of block sixty was reserved for school 
purposes. Four reservations were made for churches. 
These reservations were located as follow^s: The south 
half of block fifty-one on Church street between Gilbert 
and Van Buren streets; the south half of block thirteen 
on Church street between Dodge and Lucas streets; 
the south half of block sixty-seven on Jefferson street 



The Fininding of lozua City. 31 

between Dubuque and Linn streets; and the north half 
of block sixty-six on the Avenue between Dubuque 
and Linn streets. The ground next to the Iowa River, 
being- reserved for public purposes, was designated as 
the "Promenade." A narrow strip of ground bordering 
on the river and l}'ing between Market and Davenport 
streets was marked "Lumber Yard."^ The south half 
of block twenty was designated on the plat, " Mineral 
Springs." It was supposed that valuable mineral springs 
were located at this point. 

According to the original plat there were twenty- 
three streets, one avenue and one promenade. The 
names of the streets running east and west were: (begin- 
ning on the north) Brown, Ronalds, Church, Fairchild, 
Davenport, Bloomington, Market, Jefferson, Iowa Ave- 
nue, Washington, College and Burlington. The names 
of those running north and south were: (beginning on 
the east) Governor, Lucas, Dodge, Johnson Van Buren, 
Gilbert, Linn, Dubuque, CHnton, Capitol, Madison and 
Front. It will be noticed that in the naming of the 
streets, there was a predominant tendency to use the 
names of men of note. 

Iowa Avenue was one hundred and twenty feet wide; 
Washington, Jefferson, Clinton, Capitol and Madison 
streets were each one hundred feet, and all others were 
eighty feet. Alleys were twenty feet. The national 
road ran on a line with the Avenue directly west across 
the river. One hundred blocks, seven hundred and 
sixty-four lots, and thirty-one out-lots are marked on the 
plat. The blocks as laid off were three hundred and 
twenty feet square, and the regular lots eighty by one 

1 The Lumber Yard and Promenade were laid out into lots in 1843 
by the Territorial Agent, John M. Coleman. 



32 lo'iva City. 

hundred and fifty feet. Beginning with the monument at 
the southeast corner, there was a row of out-lots laid out 
along the east boundary of the section. There were 
also similar rows of out-lots along the north and south 
boundaries. 

The First Inhabitants. 

When the acting commissioner, Chauncey Swan, re- 
turned from Dubuque in the latter part of June, 1839, to 
direct the surveys of Iowa City there seem to have been 
at least three dwelling houses on the site. These were 
plain, ordinary claim cabins built of logs. One was 
located on the site of the present residence of Mrs. Sarah 
A. M3^ers, on Clinton street in block 21, and was occupied 
by Matthew Teneick and and family. ^ Here the acting 
commissioner had his headquarters while conducting the 
surveys. The other two cabins were situated near what 
afterwards became the corner of Brown and Gilbert 
streets. These two cabins — one of which was built in 
February and the other in June- — being only twenty feet 
apart and united under a common roof, were used as a 
tavern, the enclosed space between forming a large bar- 
room. The proprietors were George T. Andrews and 
Asaph Allen. 

Soon after the location was made in May, Matthew 
Teneick began to prepare timber for a regular^ dwelling 
house. This house was constructed of "good sized 
hewed logs," and stood on the corner of Iowa Avenue 

1 This was the first family to make a permanent location in Iowa City. 
Hannah Teneick was the first white child born in Iowa City. 

* Regular dwelling house as distinguished from the temporary claim 
cabin. 



The Founding of Iowa City. 33 

and Dubuque street, or directly across the street south 
of Close Hall. It was finished before any of the town 
lots w^ere offered for sale; but Mr. Teneick had no title 
to the ground on which it was built. Chauncey Swan, 
however, promised to use his influence in preventing 
any outsider from bidding on the lot. Accordingly when 
the lot was offered at the public sale, Chauncey Swan 
made a statement of the facts to the crowd, and Mr. 
Teneick was allowed without opposition to take the lot 
at the minimum valuation of three hundred dollars. ^ 

It is further recorded by Cyrus Sanders that, previous 
to the first sale of lots, Joseph Coe, who had erected a 
log house on the northwest corner of Clinton and Jeffer- 
son streets, and Walter Butler who had erected a frame 
for a hotel in block So on Clinton street (near the pres- 
ent location of Bloom's clothing house), were both per- 
mitted to bid in their lots at the minimum price fixed 
upon them. But Wesley Jones, who had erected a frame 
for a store ^ in block 84 on Washington street, and John 
Willison, who had dug a cellar on the northeast corner 
of Clinton and Jefferson streets with the expectation of 
getting their lots at the minimum price were disap- 
pointed, "as the bidders had come to the conclusion that 
the claim business, in western parlance, was about played 
out." 

The most noteworthy building erected before the first 
sale of lots, was a temporary tavern which stood in block 
61, near the corner of Linn and Washington streets. It 
was a small building and bore the appropriate name of 

1 During a visit to Iowa City in the autumn of 1S39, Robert Lucas 
was entertained in this house. After having been occupied as a resi- 
dence, tavern and boarding house for about twenty years, it took fire 
and burned down. 

* This was the first frame building erected in Iowa City. 



34 lozua City. 

" Lean-back Hall." Erected hastily of poles, it had a 
rough board attachment which extended back some fifty 
or sixty feet for sleeping accommodations. Lean-back 
Hall was built in a few days, and contained a barroom, 
kitchen, dining hall and one lodging room. The lodgmg 
room, it is said, had but one bed; but this bed was large 
enough to accommodate thirty-six men. "This number 
reposed in it many a night, and no complaint was ever 
entered against it."^ 

Note. — Early in the month of October occurred the death of Cor- 
deHa, the onlv daughter of Chaunce^' Swan. "Little Cordelia" was 
buried in the old cemetery and her little round tombstone still marks 
the first grave made in that cemetery. 

The First Sales of Lots. 

At the Fourth of July celebration" it was officially 
announced that there would be a public sale of lots on 
"the iSth of August. The Governor's proclamation of 
the sale was published in eastern papers. Six hundred 
and thirty dollars were expended by the acting commis- 
sioner for eleven hundred lithographic maps of Iowa 
City. These maps were sold throughout the Territor}' 
at the rate of seventy-five cents for the ordinary sheet 
map and one dollar for the pocket map.^ 

During the early part of August the arrivals of strang- 
ers at the seat of government became more numerous; 
so that by the morning of the eighteenth it was a con- 
siderable crowd that o-athered about Lean-back Hall. 
There were present several capitalists from the east, 
citizens from the eastern part of the Territory, and 

1 Frederick M. Irisli in Anuah of lovja, January, 1S69. 
* See chapter II on "The Founding of Iowa City, page 26. 
8 One of these pocket maps has been preserved in the State Historical 
Library. 



The Ftninding of lozva City. 35 

settlers from the neighboring- country. At the proper 
time " Mr. Dougherty, of Dubuque, who was employed 
as auctioneer, mounted a wagon and announced the terms 
of the sale.^ The wagon then moved off, and the crowd 
followed on to a lot near where the North Presbyterian 
Church now stands, which was the first lot offered for 
sale, and was knocked off to John Trout, an employe of 
the American Fur Company, for ;^ioo. They then 
moved on to the next lot offered, and so continued 
during the day, moving from lot to lot as sold, with 
occasional intermissions for refreshments at Lean-back 
Hall. 3 

This first public sale of lots continued for three days, 
durino- which time one hundred lots were sold, amount- 
ing to $17,292.75. Of the one hundred lots thus sold, 
six were forfeited, which leaves the amount for which 
certificates were actually given, $16,571.75. The lots 
previously selected to be offered at this sale were the 
alternate lots in the blocks in the vicinity of Capitol 
Square. The average price paid for these lots was 
about $176.30; the lowest price paid was $25.00; and 
the highest price was $750.00. 

At the second public sale of lots which was held on 
the loth, nth and 12th of October, one hundred and six 
lots were sold. This number includes the six lots that 

1 The purchaser was required to pay one-fourth down cash; the le- 
mainder in six, twelve and eighteen months; notes were required in 
every case, payable to the acting commissioner or his successor in office 
at Iowa City. 

« From an unfinished history of Johnson County by Messrs. Felkner 
& Sanders. According to an abstract in the House Jour., la. Ter., 4th 
Leg. Ass'y, page 40, no sales were made on the iSth of August. But 
the information in the pai-agraph as given above is based on the state- 
ment of an eye witness and is perhaps correct, the abstract to the con- 
trary notwithstanding. 



36 Iowa City. 

had been forfeited ^ after the first sale, also three out- 
lots. Up to the 1st of November certificates^ had been 
given for only eighty-four lots and three out-lots, amount- 
ing to the sum of $10,168.00. The average price paid 
at this sale was $115.72; the lowest price was $20.00; 
and the highest price W'as $606.00. 

By the ist of January, 1840, lots had been sold to the 
amount of $34,397.75. But only $14,648.53 of this 
amount had been paid down ; for there remained in the 
office of the acting commissioner notes to the amount 
of $19,749.22. 

From the autumn of 1839, dates the existence of Iowa 
City as a distinct social entity. Men who bought lots 
at the public sales remained to fit them up for homes. 
A considerable number of dwelHngs were now put in 
process of erection. Some were simply log cabins; 
others were frame houses sided and roofed with clap- 
boards hewed from the trunks of native trees. Occa- 
sionally sawed lumber was obtained from Felkner's and 
Meyer's mill on Rapid Creek. The little pine lumber 
that was used came by way of the Ohio and Mississippi 
rivers to Bloomington (now Muscatine), from which 
place it was hauled overland to Iowa City. 

1 On neglect or refusal to pay either installment the lot or lots became 
forfeited to the Territory and the purchaser lost all that he had paid. 

2 Certificates of purchase were given to purchasers in all cases, giving 
the number of the block, the number of the lot, and pledging the faith 
of the Territory for the execution of a deed in fee simple, so soon as the 
title shall be procured by the Territory from the General Government. 



III. 

THE BEGINNINGS OF MUNICIPx\L LIFE. 

Growth and Development. 

The years 1S40, 1841 and 1842 stand out preeminently 
as the most eventful period in the history of Iowa City. 
It was the spring-time, when the municipal germ planted 
in 1839 ^^o^ ^H^' ^^ ^^ were, in a single night, unfolding 
and developing the organs of social and municipal Hfe. 
It was the period of vouthful vigor, of expansion — seem- 
ingly without limit. Back to these years are traced the 
beginnings of industry, education, courts, politics, and 
rehgion. And withal this was the period of-enthusiasm, 
the time when men hoped most and planned most. 

Fortunately the winter of 'thirty-nine and 'forty was a 
mild one, without storms. Around Capitol Square many 
buildings stood partially or wholly uncovered; others 
were in the first stages of erection. Day after day could 
be heard the ring of the ax and the crashing sound of 
falling trees. Men warmed themselves about brush-heap 
tires, and talked and rejoiced over the prospects of the 
future. 

The one hundred inhabitants who were on the town 
site at the opening of the year 1S40, witnessed, as the 
year advanced, their number double, treble, then double 
again. In the course of six months Iowa City had 
become the most popular point in Iowa. The name of 
the frontier capital was carried across the Mississippi 



38 Iowa City. 

into Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and beyond the Alleghanies. 

The growth of the town at this time was certainly a 
marvel. Its rapid increase and development were extra- 
ordinar}^, and up to that time are said to have been 
unparalleled in all the west. 

John B. Newhall in his " Sketches of Iowa," published 
in 1S41, says:^ "The unprecedented growth of Iowa 
City from a wilderness frontier, beyond the pale of civili- 
zation, is indeed a wonder in the growth of towns. * * 
I have heard of cities springing into existence as if b}' 
magic, but in no case have I ever known the application 
to be so just as when applied to this young capital of 
Iowa. * * Up to the present time, being about four- 
teen months from the commencement of Iowa City, it 
contains a population of about 700 inhabitants, a spacious 
city hotel, three or four brick buildings and several 
others in progress, ten dry-goods, grocery and provision 
stores, one drug store, one saddlery, two blacksmiths, 
one gunsmith, three or four coffee houses, four lawyers, 
three physicians, one church, and one primary school — 
in short, presenting all the appearance, bustle and activity 
of a city of years, rather than a prodigy of months. 
Should the skeptical feel inclined to question the accur- 
acy of this statement, I can assure them it has been the 
result of personal inspection. I counted, even in the 
middle of last May, the rising of one hundred buildings, 
and saw and heard the busy workmen engaged on half 
as many more. At that time, conversing with a gentle- 
man from Pennsylvania, who came to the 'city' the week 
preceding and had a frame house covered and his goods 
in it, he said to me, 'Five days ago m}' house was in the 
woods, growing.' " 

1 "Sketches of Iowa," by John B. Newhall, of Burlington, page 125. 



The Beginnings of Municipal Life. 39 

An Old Fashioned Economy. 

It has become a familiar remark that the decades since 
the war are more unHke the decades preceding the war 
than those years are unUke the time of Elizabeth or the 
First George. The progress of the domestic freedom 
of trade since the close of the eighteenth century is not 
the less remarkable because it has been unobserved. 
The growth of faith in freedom, nourished by the mystic 
philosophy that spun itself about the theory of the social 
compact, and the introduction of rapid steam transporta- 
tion and communication by telegraph, broke down for- 
ever the old system of restrictions that once hung upon 
every avenue of business life. Vestiges of the old system 
are found in the early history of Iowa City in the licenses 
which were then regarded necessary for the lawful pur- 
suit of ordinary trades. 

On the 7th of October, Edward Foster was granted a 
license to sell goods in Iowa City for one year at the 
rate of twenty dollars per annum. Mr. Foster's store 
was kept in a log cabin just north of Capitol Square. 
On the day after Mr. Foster was granted a license to 
sell goods, Asaph Allen and Walter Butler obtained 
licenses to "keep tavern"^ for one year at the rate of 

^ The following extract from a statute law of Michigan that was 
extended over the Territory of Wisconsin (Iowa was then a part of the 
Territory of Wisconsin) by the act of Congress organizing said Terri- 
tory, is characteristic of the regulations at that time: 

"Every tavern keeper shall, at all times be furnished with suitable 
provisions and accommodations for travellers, and shall keep in his 
house at least two spare beds for guests, with good and sufficient sheet- 
ing and covering for such beds respectively, and provide and keep good 
and sufficient stabling and provender of hay in winter, and hay and 
pasturage in summer, and grain for four horses or other cattle, for the 
accommodation of travellers. * * * » Every tavern keeper shall, 
within thirty days after obtaining his license, put up a proper sign, on 



40 lozva City. 

thirty dollars. Mr. Allen had, for at least three months 
previous to this time, been conducting a tavern ;i but Mr. 
Butler opened his tavern about the time the license was 
issued. Butler's tavern, which was kept in a frame 
building erected especially for the purpose, was for 
several years the principal public place in Iowa City. 

Robert McKee & Co. took out a license to keep a 
store for one year at the rate of eighteen dollars. Their 
store was located in a small log house which stood near 
the northwest corner of Clinton and Burlington streets 
(near where the Baptist church now stands). It is also 
recorded that about the middle of November Charles 
Drury took out a license to keep a general store at the 
same rate. 

The first grocery was in a cabin on the east side of 
Dubuque street between College and Burlington streets, 
and was known as the "Buck Grocery." Above the 
door a pair of deer horns naively served as a sign — the 
proprietor's name was Henry Buck. That Mr. Buck's 
store was a grocery is certain. For, according to the 
3rd section of "An Act regulating Grocery License," 
passed by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of 
Iowa,2 "a grocerv shall be deemed to include any house 
or place where spirituous or vinous liquors are retailed 
by less quantities than one gallon," and it is known that 
spirituous liquors were thus sold at the " Buck Grocery." 

Mail Facilities. 

The mail facilities, which up to this time had been 
meager and uncertain, were now made more adequate 

or adjacent to the front bf his house, witli his name thereon, and keep 
up such sign during tiie time he shall keep a tavern." 

1 See Chapter II on the "The Founding of Iowa City," page 32. 

* Stat. Laws la. Ter., Sess. 1S39-40 of Leg. AssV, page 27. 



The Beginnings of Aliinicipal Life. 41 

bv the establishment of rej^ular mail routes to the more 
important points in the Territory.^ The Napoleon post- 
office, which had been established in March, 1839, was 
removed to Iowa City by Samuel H. McCrory and 
located in the store of Charles S. Foster, just north 
of Capitol Square, sometime during the same year. 
Chauncey Swan, who succeeded Mr. McCrory as post- 
master, on the 14th of November, 1839, changed the 
name of the post-office from "Napoleon" to "Iowa City." 
Mr. Swan was succeeded in office by James M. Hawkins, 
September 2nd, 1841. On the 3rd of August, 1842, 
Samuel C. Trowbridge was appointed postmaster, which 
position he held for seven years. 

Public Roads. 

Aloncr w'ith the increase in mail facilities there was a 
development of public means of travel. While the first 
emigrants of 'thirty-nine were compelled to follow rivers, 
streams and Indian paths, those who came later in the 
year were sjuided bv the crooked wheel-tracks of ox 
wagons. In 1840 and 1841, regular public roads were 
laid out. 

All the principal highways ai that time were estab- 
lished by acts of the Legislative Assembly and were 
known as "territorial roads. "^ In 1 841, four of these 
principal highways connected Iowa City with the outside 

I F. M. Irish relates thai the Iowa City mail was brought up from 
Bloomington (Muscatine) by any of the citizens having business there; 
and that he (Mr. Irish) had often brought out the mail in the crown of 
his hat or tied up in a pocket handkerchief. — See Annals of lozva, April, 
1868; page 109. 

8 The "territorial road," with perhaps the exception of important 
bridges, was improved at the expense of the inhabitants of the county 
or township through which it passed. 



42 Iowa City. 

world, namely: One running from Iowa City through 
Muscatine County to Bloomington (Muscatine); one 
running from Iowa City through Louisa and Des Moines 
Counties to Burlington; one running from Iowa City 
through Cedar, Clinton, Jackson and Dubuque Counties 
to Dubuque; and one running from Iowa City south to 
Mt. Pleasant in Henry Count}-. Indeed, Iowa City was 
at that time the converging point of all the important 
territorial roads. 

One of the most popular roads in the Territory was a 
"military road" established by Congress between Iowa 
City and Dubuque. Twenty thousand dollars was appro- 
priated by Congress for the improvement of this road.^ 

But previous to the establishment of either territorial 
or military roads there existed between Iowa City and 
Dubuque a public highway that w^as characteristically 
pioneer. Strangers in crossing the prairie found it diffi- 
cult to keep the direct course and often wandered far 
out of their wa}-. This was especially true of travelers 
between Iowa City and Dubuque. The citizens of Iowa 
City desiring to remedy this difficulty employed one, 
Lyman Dillon, to plow a furrow between the two towns 
in as direct a line as practicable. Early one morning 
Mr. Dillon, accompanied by a driver, started from Iowa 
City with a large breaking plow drawn by tive yoke of 
oxen. When he reached Dubuque he had made a fur- 
row one hundred miles long. "Dillon's furrow" was an 
efficient guide to the traveler, and soon a well beaten 
road was made by its side. 

Ferries. 

The settlers west of the Iow\a River reached the town 

1 The Langworthy Bros., of Dubuque, had the contract to lay out the 
greater part of this miHtary road. 



The Beginnings of Municipal Life, 43 

by crossing the river in canoes and on what may be 
termed "flatboat ferries." Benjamin Miller started the 
first regular ferry across the Iowa River in the winter 
of 1S38-39. This ferry which crossed in the vicinity 
of the present location of the B., (J. R. & N. R. R. 
bridge was subsequently managed by F. A. A. Cobbs. 
On the 6th of March, 1S40, Messrs. Sturgis and 
Qouglass were granted a license to keep a ferry across 
the Iowa River; and on the same day Andrew D. 
Stephen w-as granted a license to keep a ferr}' at the 
point where the "National Road'*^ crossed the river. 
But Mr. Stephen having neglected to establish a ferry 
in due time, his license was revoked on the 13th of 
October, 1840, and a new license granted to John D. 
Able. 2 Mr. Able established his ferrj- where the upper 
wagon bridge now crosses the river; and this was the 
first regular ferry to cross the Iowa River at Iowa City.^ 
On the nth of September, 1841, Mr. Able transferred, 
along with a claim on the west bank of the river, the 
"ferry. Boat. Rope Canoe, & so forth belonging to and 
heretofore used at said ferry"'* to Pleasant Arthur. 
About a month after the transfer Mr. Arthur had the 
license renewed.^ 

1 According to a map of Iowa City published in 1S39, the " National 
Road" crossed the Iowa River on a line with Iowa Avenue. 

* The license fee in both cases was $15.00. 

* The toll rates established by the county were as follows: 

Footman 6ji^ cts.=" fip "=" fippenny-bit" = " picayune." 

Man and horse . . . 125^ " =" bit"=" levy "="'levenpence." 

One horse and wagon (or carriage) 25 cts. 

Two horses, or oxen, and wagon ZlYz " 

Each additional horse or yoke of oxen (i% " 

Each head of neat cattle in droves 6^ " 

Sheep and hogs per head 3 " 

* From original MS. records of the Claim Association of Johnson 
Count}'. 

^ Mr. Arthur's license fee was $25.00. 



44 Iowa City. 

Commerce. 

In the early years of Iowa City, water courses were 
still the great channels of traffic. But, as has already 
been observed, the location of Iowa City commanded 
no commercial point of advantage. The traffic of Iowa 
City, therefore, was mostly overland; and before rail- 
roadb had become the common carrier, this was slow 
and expensive transportation. Articles of produce and 
merchandise were hauled overland in ox-wagons to and 
from the Mississippi river. 

Dry-goods and the like were purchased in New York, 
Boston and other eastern cities and shipped by way of 
the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, or by way of the Gulf 
of Mexico and the Mississippi, to Bloomington (Musca- 
tine), Burlington and Dubuque. Groceries were pur- 
chased almost exclusively in St. Louis; for at that time 
St. Louis was to the West what Chicago is to the North- 
west to-day. 

Produce, which consisted mostly of corn, wheat, pork 
and lard, was sent in part to the Mississippi towns for 
exportation. But in the transportation of produce the 
Iowa River — a considerable body of water, especially 
in the spring months — was utilized to a great extent. 
Loaded on flatboats or keel -boats, corn, wheat and 
pork were floated down the Iowa River to the Missis- 
sippi, and thence on the same boats to St. Louis, where 
both the produce and the boats were disposed of. 

Moreover, the inhabitants of Iowa City believed that 
the Iowa River could be made a navigable water course 
and that Mississippi steamers would some day carry on 
a direct commerce with the town. This belief was 
greatly strengthened by an event which occurred on the 
20th of June, 1840. 



The Beginnings of Mimicifal Life. 45 

On the evening of that day, which was Sunday, the 
inhabitants were startled by the puffing of a steamboat. 
In a few minutes the entire population of the town 
turned out and rushed down to the ferry landing to wel- 
come with hearty cheers the arrival of what proved to 
be the steamboat "Ripple." The next morning the 
citizens held a mass meeting at the city hotel. At this 
meeting resolutions were passed providing for a grand 
public dinner to be held in commemoration of the event 
and appointing committees to investigate the matter of 
improving the Iowa River and making it navigable. 

The editor of the lozva City Standard declared that 
"The comparatively low stage of water will effectually 
silence any sneers that may be thrown out concerning 
high water navigation, etc., and we now have the fact 
proved, beyond the possibility of a doubt, that the Iowa 
River is navigable beyond this place for seven months 
in the year. This arrival has effectually changed the 
relation in which we formerly stood to the other towns 
in this Territory. We are now no longer dependent 
upon the towns on the Mississippi for our imports — nor 
are we subjected to the labor and expense of drawing 
across the country all articles brought from abroad. We 
have now a situation in many respects superior to any in 
the Territory."^ 

In a speech at the public dinner Major John B. New- 
hall said: "From this day forward the practicability of 
navigating the Iowa River remains no longer the sub- 
ject of conjecture. From this day henceforth, a new era 
will commence in the destinies of your city. The most 
skeptical must believe; for here is the evidence before 
you — yes, gentlemen, ere another month shall elapse 

1 loiva City Standard^ Vol. I, No. 31. 



46 lozva City. 

the performance of the gallant little "Ripple" shall be 
emblazoned to the world in letters of livino- Hrrht."^ 

But all this was gross exaggeration, and the hope in 
the navigability of the Iowa River never was realized. ^ 
In 1847 and 1848, the General Assembly considered the 
question of slack-water navigation on the Iowa River 
and addressed a memorial to Congress on the subject; 
but before any effectual movement could be inaugurated 
railroads had robbed the water of its former superiority 
as a means of internal commerce. 

Mining. 

A discovery of what was supposed to be lead ore in 
the month of April, 1842, created considerable excite- 
ment in Iowa City at the time. The discovery was 
made b}' Jesse McCart, who it is said, " found, nine miles 
above the city, on the banks of the Iowa River, a load 
of lead by digging fourteen feet below the surface." 

Of this discovery the editor of the loiva City Standard 
says: "Nothing better could have happened to make this 
section of the country and especially Iowa Cit}-, a perfect 
Eldorado, than the discover}' which has been made in 
Johnson County. It has, ever since the settlement of this 
count}', been believed, that it abounded with immense 
mineral of various kinds. Several townships of land 
west of Iowa City, we are told, were returned to the 
General Land Office as mineral lands. This must form 
a new era in the history and existence of Iowa City."^ 

1 loiva City Standard, Vol. I, No. 31. 

* In 1S42 the steamer "Rock River" arrived at Iowa City; and in 
1844 tlie steamer " Emma" got as far as tlie capital. But these arrivals 
were of little consequence. 

* lo'cva City Standard, Vol. II, No. 19. 



The Bcg'iiuiJiigs of ]\hinicipal Life. 47 

Mining, however, as in the case of the first steamboat 
arrival, was simply an exciting incident instead of an 
epoch-making event. 

The Common Industries. 

The ordinarv trades, such as those of the carpenter, 
the smith and the mason, were introduced and flourished 
during the first year of the town's existence. At one 
time there was a turning-lathe on Ralston Creek. For 
a number of years Mr. Ga3'mon managed a chair factory. 
John A. Copenhafer also established a chair factory. 
This latter factory was located on Ralston Creek, oppo- 
site the present site of the oil mill. Here marble-headed 
canes were manufactured, the marble used being none 
other than the bird's-eye marble from the Iowa City 
qiiarries. 

The making of brick was also begun at an earl}- day. 
In this occupation Sylvanus Johnson was the pioneer. 
He operated a brick-yard in the year 1S40, and on the 
15th day of April of that year moulded with his own 
hands the first brick ever made in Johnson County. 
From his kiln Mr. Bostwick obtained the material for 
the first brick building erected in Iowa City. The walls 
of this building were laid in 1840 by George T. Andrews. 

The transportation of produce down the Iowa River 
on flatboats created a lively business in building of boats. 

The Iowa Citv Manufacturing Company. 

The distinguishing characteristic of Iowa City was 
political, and not industrial. The industrial organiza- 
tions of the town were, therefore, ordinary and com- 
monplace. Yet to this general rule there was one 
noteworthy exception — the " Iowa Cit}- Manufacturing 
Company." 



48 Iowa City. 

It was on the evening of the 13th day of April, 1843, 
that a few citizens assembled at the office of the terri- 
torial agent, John M. Coleman, for the purpose of taking 
steps in reference to a burying ground that had been 
donated by the Territory. The business for which they 
were called together was duly arranged, and the meeting 
adjourned. But immediately after the adjournment was 
announced, jNIr. Coleman arose and requested the citizens 
to remain, saying that he desired to make a suggestion. 
The citizens again took their seats. Mr. Coleman then 
brought' forward his suggestion, which was to the 
effect that the citizens of Iowa City make an effort 
to utilize the ivater powc?' of the lozva River. The sug- 
gestion was favorably entertained by those present, and 
it was resolved to hold a meeting: at the " American 
Hotel " for a more thorough consideration of the matter, 
within a few days. Mr. Coleman's proposition now met 
with enthusiastic support on every hand. The result 
was that on the 17th the "Iowa City Manufacturing 
Company " was organized and articles of association 
adopted.^ 

Chauncey Swan was elected President of the com- 
pany. Other men who prominently interested them- 
selves in this new enterprise were: A. E. McArthur, 
Silas Foster, M. M. Montgomery, Thomas Snyder and 
David Switzer. 

The management having been vested in a board of 
directors, it was resolved to commence operations just 
as soon as capital stock to the amount of $5,000 had 
been taken. This amount was soon subscribed, and the 
erection of a dam was begun on the i8th of June, under 
the direction of A. B. Newcomb. By the middle of 

1 Iowa Capital Reporter^ Vol. II, No. 20. 



The Beginnings of Municipal Life. 49 

August the capital stock had swelled to $10,000, and at 
the dam thirty hands were employed in hewing and 
digging.! During the fall months the work was pushed 
forward with wonderful vitjor. At the same time a crist- 
mill was in the process of erection. By the ist day of 
January, 1844, the dam and mill were so far completed 
that the otiicers and workmen, who surrounded the table 
at a rudimentary boarding house near by, were served 
with "corn dodgers" and mush made of meal ground 
that day by the water power of the Iowa River. 

The location of the mill and dam was about two miles 
northwest of Iowa City at a point now known as Coral- 
ville. This site was donated to the company by Walter 
Butler, with, however, the reservation bv him of the right 
of erecting a mill on the west bank of the river and of 
using water from the company's, mill sufficient to run a 
saw mill with one saw. The Iowa River throughout its 
entire course afforded no better site; here the bed of 
the river was of solid rock with a beautiful fall below. 

The dam when completed was perhaps the finest 
structure of its kind west of the Mississippi River. It 
was ten feet high, and with an ordinary stage of water 
contributed hydraulic force equal to seven hundred and 
eighty horse power. 

Yet after all, it was not the erection of a great dam 
and the building of a gristmill, that gives the Iowa City 
Manufacturing Company a truly great significance in the 
history of Iowa City. This significance is found in the 
company's industrial system. As the Claim ^Association 
of Johnson County was operated on modern socialistic 
principles, so the Iowa Citv Manufacturing Company 
founded an industry on the principles of the modern 
cooperative labor system. Many of the stockholders 

1 lozva City Standard^ Vol. Ill, No. 32. 



50 lozva City. 

instead of paying for their shares in money — which to be 
sure they did not have — paid for them in the labor of 
their own hands; while some few, merchants, paid for 
their shares in goods and provisions. A rare spectacle it 
must have been to see the stockholders with their own 
picks, spades and axes, digging, shoveling and hewing, 
and wading deep in the Iowa River; while merchants, 
who had taken shares, contributed groceries and provis- 
ions for their support. So thoroughl}- was the system 
carried out that upon the completion of the dam, it is 
said, the books of the company showed a total expense 
of but tzvcniy-iivc dollars in money. ^ 

On the 5th of November, 1845, the mill and dam 
passed from the control of the Iowa City Manufacturing 
Company into the hands of Newcomb & Harris. But 
the immense power afforded by the dam was never 
efficiently utilized until after 1S4S, when the improve- 
ments were purchased by Ezekiel Clark. B}- the year 
1850, Mr. Clark had put in a large and well equipped 
plant. The flouring mill was then "driven day and night, 
and furnished the greater portion of the flour for the 
inhabitants of the northwestern part of our State. It was 
no unusual sight to see fifty and sixty wagons ranged at 
this mill at one time, some of them from as far north as 
Woodbury County, and from all the intermediate settle- 
ments and from southern Minnesota. "^ 

Note. — Besides the mills at Coralville, there is another historic Iowa 
City mill. It is located about a half mile north of town, and is known 
as •' Terrill's iSIill." Tlie dam for this mill was erected in the autumn 
of 'forty-three by Walter Terrill; the mill itself was built during the 
following year. 

1 Ainials of lozi'a, April, 1S69, page 193. 

- In 1855 Hon. Samuel J. Kirkwood bought an interest in these mills. 
And it was from this industry that he was afterwards called to become 
Iowa's greatest Governor and most honored citizen. 



The Beginnings of Municipal Life. 51 

Local Politics. 

In early times Iowa City was an enthusiastic Whig 
town. Every one was interested in politics, for the 
"machine" and "ring" were then unknown. Men, 
however, did not seem to be so broad in their political 
views as they were later on. This narrowness was 
strikingly reflected in the editorials of the press, which 
were often insulting and scurrilous. 

Being a Whig town the victory of William Henry Har- 
rison was commemorated by an "Illumination." "The 
hearts of the people," it is said, "were given over to 
utter joyousness. Almost every habitation was resplend- 
ent with light. The square, the park, the avenue, indeed 
the whole citv was one ijrand mass of embodied lifrht 
from nine o'clock until about midnight. Men became 
boys and played their antics over again. Every move- 
able thing became a sleigh and every locomotive was 
put in requisition to give them impetus. The United 
States flag with her stars and stripes added beauty to 
the scene. "^ 

Iowa City remained a stronghold of the Whigs until 
1845, when in August the Democrats carried an election 
by a small majority. 

The County Seat. 

The importance of the average American town is 
generally determined by its official relation to the state 
and county in which it is located. In these relations, 
Iowa City w^as doubly favored. As capital it was the 
first town in Iowa; and as seat of justice it became the 
center of Johnson County. 

1 Io:va Standard^ Vol. I, No. lO. 



52 Iowa City. 

Created by an act of the Legislative Assembly of 
Wisconsin, passed at the winter session of 1837-38, held 
at Burlington, Johnson County was temporarily attached 
to Cedar County. But the few inhabitants soon peti- 
tioned for a separate organization. There being at that 
time two rival communities in the county, the "Harris 
Community " and the " Gilbert Community," the former 
desired the location of the seat of justice to be made at 
the froj)oscd town Osceola, while the latter maintained 
the superior importance of the proposed town Napoleon. 
The question was finally settled by an act of the Wis- 
consin Assembly, approved June 22nd, 1838. This act 
provided for the separate organization of the Count}' 
of Johnson with the seat of justice at Napoleon. Situ- 
ated on the left bank of 'the Iowa River about one and 
a half miles below Iowa City, the town of Napoleon 
never consisted of more than two houses. Yet in that 
place Johnson County had its official beginnings. There 
the District Court of the United States sat to hear a case 
of frontier horse-stealing. 

On the 7th of October the court of county commis- 
sioners assembled at Napoleon for the last time; for that 
day the court " adjourned to meet to-morrow morning 
at eight o'clock at the house of F. M. Irish in Iowa 
City." Pursuant to adjournment, the court met with 
Henry Felkner, Robert Walker and Philip Clark pres- 
ent. From this time on it is very probable that Iowa 
City was in reality the official town of the countv; for, 
having been created the capital of Iowa Territory in the 
preceding month of May, it was now the universal 
opinion that the county seat should be near the seat of 
government. In December, 1839, the re-location of the 



The Beginnings of Municipal Life. 53 

seat of justice of Johnson County was authorized by the 
Legislative Assembly. ^ 

Having met on the 27th day of January, the commis- 
sioners, upon the motion of Henry Felkner, repaired 
to view the several quarter-sections of land adjoining 
the seat of government. After due examination they 
decided upon the northwest quarter of section fifteen 
for the future seat of justice. Philip Clark was then 
authorized by the commissioners to repair to Dubuque 
and enter the quarter-section for county purposes. Fur- 
thermore, it was " Ordered that a memorial be forwarded 
to Congress, directed to the care of W. W. Chapman, 
requesting Congress to pass a law authorizing the afore- 
said board to locate upon the aforesaid quarter-section 
of land for countv purposes." In compliance with this 
request, Congress in an act approved August ist, 1842, 
granted the right of preemption at the minimum price 
for the fractional northwest quarter, east of the river, of 
section fifteen, containing one hundred and seventeen 
acres and sixty-four one hundredths of an acre, more or 
less, on the terms and conditions of an act passed May 
26th, 1824, relating to county seats. In the meantime 
the commissioners had made satisfactory arrangements 
with Andrew D. Stephen the claimant of the land. (See 
Chapter I on "Early Land Claims.") 

On the 9th of November, 1841, the board ordered the 
new county seat to be laid out as follows: "Twenty-four 
blocks to be surveyed off the north side at present, each 
block to be three hundred and twenty feet square, includ- 
ing alleys, the north and south streets to correspond with 
the streets which run north and south in Iowa City; and 
the streets running east and west to be eighty feet wide, 

> Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Sess. 1S39-40 of Leg. Ass'y, page 25. 



54 Iowa City. 

each block to be divided into eight lots, and alleys to be 
twenty feet wide." The first sale of lots was held on 
the 24th and 25th of May, 1841; lots were sold to the 
amount of $2,903.50. With this considerable sum it was 
resolved to begin the erection of necessary county build- 
ings — jail and courthouse. 

Experience led the county to erect the jail first. Jesse 
Berry and James Herron drafted the plans, according to 
which a small brick building was erected by James 
Trimble on the corner of Clinton and Prentiss streets. 
But this building, though better than an ordinary frame 
house, was not always efficient for jail purposes; in 
August, 1S43, two prisoners broke through its walls 
and escaped. Again in 1S52 another criminal broke jail 
and fled. In 1864, the "old jail" w^is sold to C. H. 
Berryhill for the sum of sixty dollars. 

On the 8th of April, 1842, F. H. Lee, the agent for 
the County of Johnson, was instructed and authorized to 
receive proposals for the erection of a temporary court- 
house. The building w^as to be twenty-eight by fifty- 
six feet, two stories high, and constructed of brick. And 
during the next few years such a courthouse was erected 
on block 8, lot 8, in the count}' seat. Previous to the 
completion of these two count}- buildings the county had 
rented different rooms and buildings in Iowa City for 
court and jail purposes. 

Early Justice. 

The first District Court in Iowa City (the second one 
in the county) met on the 9th, loth and nth of Sep- 
tember, 1839. "^'"^^ cases brought before the court at 
this session were for the most part cases relating to the 
the violation of the law regulating the sale of liquors to 



The Beginnings of Municipal Life. 55 

Indians. 1 At this session the following men were im- 
panelled and sworn in as grand jurors: 

Andrew D. Stephen. Alonzo C. Dennison. 

I. P. HaxMilton. Isaac Bowen. 

Wm. Sturgis. Henry Felkner. 

John Hawkins. S. B. Mulholland. 

Fred. Dysinger. Wm. Kelso. 

Abner Wolcott. Jesse McCart. 

Ebenezer Douglass. Wini. M. Harris. 

Robert Walker. Sam'l H. McCrory. 

It must be remembered, however, that in frontier set- 
tlements law and justice were not administered by the 
courts alone. Criminals were not unfrequently punished 
other than by "due process of law." Cases involving 
real estate ditficulties were generally settled by the 
"claim court." (See chapter I on "Early Land Claims.") 
While other offenses against the community or individ- 
uals of the community were often dealt with b}^ the 
"vigilance committee" or the "mob." 

And in the frontier settlements of the West the people 
were justified in taking the law into their own hands; 
for in the absence of courts and local government the 
vigilance committee was often absolutely necessary to 
the proper administration of justice. 

To this pioneer method of administering justice, Iowa 
City was no exception. In one instance a prisoner was 
taken from the officers and whipped and choked till he 
confessed his crime; in another, the obnoxious citizen 
was drowned in the Iowa River. ^ In July, 1844, the 

1 For the law regulating the sale of liquors to the Indians see Stat. 
Laws, la. Ten, 1st Sess. of Leg. Ass'y, page 274. 

* I refer to the drowning of Boyd Wilkinson in the Iowa River 
in 185S. 



56 



lozva City. 



"vigilance committee" as chosen in Iowa City consisted 
of the following persons:^ 



Wm. B. Snyder. 
H. Downer. 
E. T. Lock. 
A. J. Lucas. 
Ed. Eatman. 
Chas. Cartwright. 
Thos. Cahill. 
John Parrott. 
I. N. Sanders. 
Jas. Robinson. 



Wm. McCormick. 
G. T. Andrews. 
S. Williams. 
L. D. GoBiN. 
N. A. White. 
G. W. Hawkins. 
D. Calhoun. 
John Matthews. 
A. Jones. 
Wm. Sheladay. 



1 See lo-va Shvidard, Vol. IV, No. 29. 



IV. 
THE TERRITORIAL CAPITAL. 

Coming of the Assembly. 

Iowa City did not become the capital of Iowa /;/ fact 
until the 6th day o£ December, 1S41. In the meantime 
Burlington remained the temporary seat of government. 
It was explicitly stated in the founding act of Iowa City, ^ 
that the Legislative Assembly should meet at Burlington 
for three A-ears, until by proclamation of the Governor 
the Public Buildings at Iowa City were declared ready 
for its reception. But at the end of two years it had 
already become quite evident that the Capitol would not 
be in condition to receive the Legislative Assembly at 
the time contemplated in the above mentioned act. In 
view of this fact, an act passed in January, 1841, fixing 
the time for the meeting of the next Legislative Assem- 
bly as the first Monday in December, 1841, contained 
the special provision that if the Public Buildings at Iowa 
City were not in condition to receive the Legislative 
Assembly at that time the Assembly ■would still meet in 
lozua City in case other and sufficient buildings shall be 
furnished, rent free. The citizens of Iowa City were 
not slow in informing the Assembly that "other and 
sufficient buildings" would be provided for their accom- 
modation. 

The whole tow^n was now filled with enthusiasm. 

1 See Chapter III on "The Founding of Iowa City," page 18. 



58 Jozua City. 

That one thing for which many of the inhabitants had 
crossed the prairie and endured the privations of pioneer 
life was about to be located in their midst. During the 
summer, Walter Butler — the most public-spirited of all 
his townsmen — erected a building for the accommodation 
of the coming Legislative Assembl}'.^ 

Butler's Capitol was a two-story frame structure, and 
was located on Washington street in block 80, just east 
of what is now Whetstone's drug store. Its dimensions 
were sixty by thirty feet. 

And in this plain unattractive building the Legislative 
Assembly of Iowa first met in Iowa City on the 6th day 
of December, 1841. It was a cold day, made disagree- 
able by wind and rain and sleet. The Council, with nine 
members present, met in the second story and was called 
to order by the secretary, B. F. Wallace. Promptly at 
twelve o'clock M., Joseph T. Fales called the House to 
order in the rooms below. At this first meeting of the 
Representatives at Iowa City seventeen counties were 
represented, namely: Lee, Van Buren, Des Moines, 
Henry, Louisa, Washington, Muscatine, Johnson, Cedar, 
Jones, Linn, Scott, Clinton, Dubuque, Clayton, Delaware 
and Jackson. The session was opened with prayer b}' 
the Rev. Mr. Hummer. Only one session of the Legis- 
lative Assembly was held in Butler's Capitol; for by 
December, 1842, the Capitol on Capitol Square was so 
far completed as to accommodate the Legislative Assem- 
bly as well as the territorial officers. 

J " Walter Butler agreed to put up a building if a certain number of 
citizens would obligate themselves to pay him the difference between 
the cost of the building and the price it would command when no longer 
required for use by the Legislative Assembly. But for some cause the 
pledges were never fulfilled, and Walter Butler sustained a great loss 
thereby." — F. M. Irish in Annals of Io-va,]\\\\, i86S, page 192. 



The Territorial Capital. 59 

Erection of the Capitol. 

The historical importance of the first regular Capitol 
of Iowa justifies a detailed description of its erection. 
For to-day it is the most significant monument of the 
early history of Iowa. The story of its erection, its 
financial history, the legislative, judicial and educational 
memories that cluster around its walls, lend it a rever- 
ential distinction unparalleled by any other public build- 
ing ever erected in the State. Begun in 1839, the 
building of the Capitol extends over the long period of 
fifteen years. 

Immediately after his return from Dubuque in the 
latter part of June, 1839, Chauncey Swan, the Acting 
Commissioner, having procured tools and assistance, 
began opening up a quarry on the left bank of the 
Iowa River about six blocks north of Capitol Square. 
From this quarry rock was afterwards obtained for the 
foundations and a portion of the walls of the Capitol. 
Early in July a site was cleared, and in September men 
were employed to prepare the ground for the founda- 
tions. The turf and dirt removed at this time were 
deposited in Iowa Avenue on the east side of Capitol 
Square. 

In the meantime the commissioners had adopted plans 
for the Capitol. John F. Rague was the architect; 
although it is said that the Rev. Samuel Mazzuchielli, a 
Catholic priest at Dubuque, was the original designer 
of the building.^ 

The following is a fair description of the Capitol 
as originally planned by the architect and afterwards 
erected by the Territory: Being located in the center 
of Capitol Square, "it is one hundred and twenty feet 

^lo-A'a Historical Record, Vol. IV, page 102. 



6o Iowa City. 

loner north and south, and sixty feet east and west. It 
is to be ornamented by magnificent porticos, one on 
each side, supported by four massive pillars six feet and 
ten inches in advance of the walls of the building. The 
base of each portico is forty feet long and including the 
steps extends twenty-two feet and seven inches in ad- 
vance of the walls. The exterior of the building is thus 
described: From the window sills of the basement, which 
will be level with the pavements, to the water table, the 
face of the walls is made of large blocks of cut stone. 
The water table, which is five feet one inch from the 
ground, is composed of forty-eight blocks, sixteen inches 
thick, from seven to nme feet long, said to weigh from 
six to eight thousand pounds each after they were 
dressed. These blocks form for the heavy basement 
walls, a kind of coping; from the outside of which the 
walls of the upper story make an offset of sixteen inches, 
leaving the water table for that width exposed to view 
entirely around the building, which adds much to the 
beauty and apparent strength of the work. On each 
of the fronts there are eight pilasters, three feet and 
ten inches wide, and projecting twelve inches from the 
face of the walls; these are to be surmounted by cut 
stone caps supporting the architrave, thus giving to the 
the building the appearance of being studded by pillars. 
[At the suggestion of the investigating committee the 
pilasters were dressed in the same manner as the doors, 
water table, jambs, etc.] It is the intention to use rough- 
cast or hard-finish on the whole building except where 
the dressed work may appear. The cornice if made to 
the plan will be highly ornamental. ^ * * * The 
roof is to be surmounted by a cupola, which * * * 

1 The cornice was not made hiijhlv ornamental. 



TJic Territorial Capital. 6i 

will be ornamental but expensive. The base of the 
cupola is an octagon, supported by the interior vestibule 
walls. Upon this base stand eight corinthian columns 
crowned with handsome capitals supporting a spherical 
roof. Within the circle of the columns the space is 
enclosed by eight long windows placed also in an octa- 
gonal form by which light is communicated to the stair- 
way descending in the middle of the building through 
the successive stories. As constructed the light is shut 
out from the main stairway which leads to the halls of 
the Assembly in the second stor}'. The interior arrange- 
ment is as follows: The basement story is entered by 
two doors in the opposite ends, both opening into a hall 
seven feet wide, which runs directly through the build- 
ing north and south, dividing it into two equal parts. 
There are four rooms on each side about twenty feet 
square, designed for committee rooms. There is also a 
large and convenient wood room, and a fire-proof vault, 
arched with brick, and covered with grouted masonry 
more than three feet thick, for the safety of public docu- 
ments. On the next floor there is the same division 
north and south, and a broad hall or vestibule east and 
west entered from the porticos on each side of the build- 
ing. North of the vestibule, east side, is a room forty- 
two by twenty -one and a half feet, designed for the 
Supreme Court; a corresponding room of the same size 
on the south of the vestibule, is designed for the use of 
the Secretary of the Territory. West of the north and 
south hall are four rooms, equal in size, designed for 
the use of the Governor, Auditor, Treasurer, and the 
Library. On the upper floor the north and south hall 
is omitted. In the south wing is the Representatives 
Hall, fifty-two feet and six inches by forty-tw^o feet in 



62 lo-jja City. 

the clear. In the north wing are the Council Chamber 
and three small committee rooms, cut off from the west 
side of it."i 

Proposals for the above described building having 
been published in the lozua jyezus^" at Dubuque, the con- 
tract for its erection was tinally let to Rague & Co.^ 
Early in the spring of 1S40, Skeen and McDonald, con- 
tractors for Rague & Co., began operations on the 
Capitol with a large force of hands. The w^ork was 
prosecuted so vigorously that by the 4th of July the 
contractors were ready to lay the corner stone; accord- 
ingly preparations were made for the laying of the 
corner stone of the Capitol on the national holiday. 

Elaborate arrangements were made for this imposing 
ceremony. Governor Lucas came up from Burlington 
to deliver the oration. A great public dinner or barbe- 
cue was held in the city park, followed by toasts and 
speeches. And all the while the booming of guns was 
accompanied by the cheers of pioneers, shouting for 
"liberty" and "freedom," for "Iowa" and her "Capitol." 

About this time Skeen and McDonald, having received 
$10,000 for the w^ork already done, quit their contract, 
leaving matters in a somewhat embarrassing condition. 
The erection of the Capitol, however, was continued 
under the personal direction of Chauncey Swan. But 

1 Taken from the report of the investigating committee appointed bj* 
the Assembly in December, 1S40. — See House Jour., 3rd Leg. Ass'j, 
la. Ter., page 190. The description as it appears in the report was 
found not only to be incomplete but inaccurate as regards the measure- 
ments. I have therefore taken liberties with the quotation and changed 
it in many places. 

2 For advertising the proposals $91.00 was paid to \.\\q loroa Nezvs. — 
House Jour., 2nd Leg. Ass'y, la. Ter., page 123. 

' This same company had just erected the state-house at Springfield, 
Illinois. 



The Territorial Capita/. 63 

the work now progressed slowly. Rock for the water 
table was transported overland twenty miles from Cedar 
County. Bv the close of the year the inside walls of 
the building were raised to the second floor, the outside 
walls of the north end to the top of the second tier of 
windows, the east front to the center of the second tier 
of windows, and the south end and west front nearly to 
the bottom of the same. In this condition the walls 
were covered for the winter. 

Doubts as to the ability of Chauncey Swan and a 
vague suspicion that accounts on the Public Buildings 
were not quite accurate led to the appointment of a 
committee by the Assembly to investigate affairs at 
Iowa City. This was in December, 1840. The com- 
mittee proceeded to the capital, where they w^ere cordi- 
ally welcomed by the townsmen and invited to a public 
dinner. After examining the plans, material and work- 
manship of the Capitol, the committee thoroughly in- 
spected all papers and accounts found in the office of the 
Acting Commissioner, the condition of all of which was 
embodied in a detailed report to the Assembly. This 
report, while it revealed the fact that some papers and 
accounts were not made out in the most business-like 
manner, contains no charges of corruption. 

All this, however, led to a change in the management 
of affairs at Iowa City. An act passed in January, 1841 ^ 
created two new offices, namely: the office of "Super- 
intendent of Public Buildings" and the office of "Terri- 
torial Agent." The duties which had heretofore belonged 
to the Actin£f Commissioner were now divided between 
these two offices, the Superintendent of Public Buildings 
having charge of the erection of the Capitol and the 

1 Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1S40-41 of Leg. Ass'j, page 37. 



64 Iowa City. 

Territorial Agent, acting as secretary and treasurer, 
having charge of the sales of lots. For the year 1841, 
Chauncey Swan was appointed Superintendent of Public 
Buildings, and Jesse WilHams, Territorial Agent. 

Airreeable to the directions of the Assembly, the 
Superintendent of Public Buildings now " proceeded with 
a vigorous prosecution of the work" on the Capitol. 
During the months of March and April a competent 
number of hands were employed and set to work. Yet 
it was impossible to put the Capitol in readiness to 
accommodate the Legislative Assembly in December. 
The condition of the building at that time was described 
as follows: "The walls of the Capitol on the east front 
are raised to the bottom of the cornice, being thirty-five 
feet from the ground. The walls of the west front and 
the ends of the building, are thirty feet from the ground. 
The east portico has also been raised this season."^ 

For the year 1842, Wm. B. Snyder was appointed 
Superintendent of Public Buildings, and John M. Cole- 
man, Territorial Agent, both thoroughly efficient and 
competent men. Thinking that the rock that was being 
used in the Capitol w^as of an inferior quality, Mr, Sny- 
der, after some preliminary examination, discovered a 
very promising bed of rock about ten miles northwest of 
Iowa Citv, on the riirht bank of the Iowa River. ^ This 
quarry — known from that time on as the "Old Capitol 
Quarry" — was opened, and boats were prepared for 
the transportation of rock down the river. On the ist 
day of April the cutting of this new stone was begun 
at the Capitol. Much of the rock already laid in the 

' Report of Territorial Agent, House Jour., 4th Leg. Ass'y, la. Ter., 

page 53- 

2 Report of Sup. Pub. Buildings. — House Jour. 5th Leg. Ass'y, la. 
Ter., page 32. 



The Territorial Capital. 65 

walls was replaced by the superior material from the 
new quarry. During this season the roof was raised 
and covered with "Alleghany shingles" purchased in 
Cincinnati.! The Capitol was in this condition when on 
the first Monday in December, 1S42, the furniture hav- 
ing been removed from Butler's Capitol, the fifth Legis- 
lative Assembly of the Territory of Iowa met within its 
walls. 

With an unfinished interior, semi-erected porticos and 
no cupola — thus the Capitol remained for a number of 
years. After Iowa had become a State, appropriations 
were made from time to time for its completion. But to 
this day the first Capitol of Iowa stands unfinished, the 
portico on the west front being entirely wanting. 

Financial History of the Capitol. 

The financial history of the Capitol, which to be 
properly understood must be separately considered, is 
truly significant. It explains the difficulties under which 
Iowa's first Capitol was erected, the long delayed com- 
pletion of that Capitol, the interference on the part of 
the Territory with the price of low^a City real estate, 
and the money famine that existed in Iowa City from 
1 84 1 to 1844. Furthermore, it illustrates admirably the 
law that bad money tends to drive out good money,* 
the parsimony of the early Legislative Assemblies, state 
opposition to corporations, and that tendency to over leg- 
islation characteristic of new commonwealths. 

1 The bill for these shingles was not paid until the Cincinnati prop- 
erty of William B. Snyder, the Superintendent of Public Buildings, was 
about to be seized, when the Legislative Assembly came to his relief 
and paid the full amount. — Stat. Laws, la. Ten, Session 1845 of Leg. 
Ass'y, page 97. 

* I refer to "Gresham's Law." 



66 lozua City. 

In the first place, Congress donated to the Territory 
of Iowa $20,000 for public buildings,^ and a section of 
land on which to erect said buildings. This was certainly 
not a large donation; but from the outset it was the fixed 
policy of the Territory to erect its Capitol out of the 
funds created by the $20,000 of cash and the proceeds 
of the lots laid out on the section of land selected as the 
site for the capital. It was the persistence on the part 
of the Territory in carrying out this polic}' that led to 
the financial difficulties involved in the erection of the 
Capitol, to its long delayed completion, and finally to the 
disgrace of the faith of the Territory. 

No sooner was it discovered after the sales of 'thirty- 
nine, that the proceeds of the lots at the seat of govern- 
ment would not meet the immediate expenses of erecting 
the Capitol, than the Territory, ignoring the laws of 
supply and demand, appeared as a "bull" in the market 
and attempted to raise the price of Iowa City real estate. 
This was to be accomplished by means of legislative 
enactments fixing the average minimum price of the lots 
in Iowa City. The first legislation was exceedingly bold. 
By an act approved on the 24th of June, 1840,2 the 
Assembly dn-ected a valuation of the lots to be made 
that would not reduce the total valuation below the 
average sum of $300 per lot, notwithstanding the fact 
that the average price paid for lots the preceding season 
was only $146. But the interference on the part of the 
Territory to raise the price of lots met with no success. 
For in less than seven months after the approval of the 
act of June 24th, the Assembly ordered the average mini- 
mum valuation per lot reduced from $300 to $200.^ 

1 U. S. Stat, at Large, Vol. V, page 239. 

* Slat. Laws, la. Ten, Extra Session, 1840, of Leg. Ass'v, page 5. 

* Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1840-41 of Leg. Ass'y, page 60. 



The Territorial Capital. 67 

Again in February, 1842, the Territorial Agent was 
directed to reduce the average minimum price of the 
unsold lots, and of any and all lots which had become 
forfeited, fifty per cent, below the prices fixed thereon 
by the last valuation.^ In 1843 the average minimum 
price was reduced to $80 per lot." 

Even after these sweeping reductions lots could hardly 
be sold at any price. In 1845, Morgan Reno, the Ter- 
ritorial Treasurer, gave it as his opinion that the unsold 
lots would not sell for more than an average of $30. In 
that year twenty lots were sold at the average price of 
$14 per lot.^ 

The causes which compelled the Territory to make 
such great reductions are evident. The valuation in the 
first instance was much too high; the stream of immi- 
gration had ceased to flow in so rapidly; good desirable 
lots purchased at the first sales by speculators were 
afterwards offered at prices more reasonable than those 
fixed by the Territory upon the remaining unsold lots; 
and being short of money the Territorial Agents had 
issued large amounts of scrip for labor and material on 
the Capitol, which scrip was good for its face value only 
in payment for lots purchased of the Territory. Many 
laboring men who had purchased lots with this scrip 
would offer their lots at a sacrifice in order to get U. S. 
money. In competition with the speculators and the 
scrip-purchased lots the Territory was outdone. 

In the meantime, while the Legislative Assembly was 
admirably illustrating the foolishness of the attempt to 
artificially raise the price of Iowa City real estate by 

1 Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1S40-41 of Leg. Ass'y, page 90. 
« Report of Ter. Agent, House Jour., 6th Leg. Ass'y, la. Ter., page 283. 
s Report of Ter. Treas., House Jour., Sth Leg. Ass'y, la. Ten, pages 
24S, 249. 



68 Iowa City. 

means of legislation, the Acting Commissioner and Terri- 
torial Agents were evolving a novel monetary scheme, 
which in the end all but resulted in complete ruin. 

In this Chauncey Swan took the initiative, when in 
1840 he sold lots to the amount of several thousand dol- 
lars to be paid for in labor and material on the Capitol.^ 
Men who worked on the Capitol were paid in Iowa City 
real estate certificates which were receivable at the office 
of the Acting Commissioner in payment for lots. In 1841, 
lesse Williams, the Territorial Agent, went a step farther 
than his predecessor. Mr. Williams issued certificates of 
indebtedness to laborers and other creditors of the Ter- 
ritory on account of the Capitol, payable to the bearer 
and receivable in payment of any debts due the office. ^ 
Notes or certificates of indebtedness of this sort were 
issued during the year 1840 to the amount of $4,285.60. 
Many of these certificates naturally found their way into 
the hands of men who were debtors of the Territory for 
lots purchased. Thus the certificates would in the course 
of time return to the office of the Territorial Agent. 

It will be observed, however, that while the certificates 
of indebtedness served well enough as a medium of ex- 
change, they as inferior money, drove the lawful United 
States currency out of the office of the Territorial Agent; 
and the difficulty now resolved itself into the problem, 
how to get enough good money to meet the demands 
of the office. There was but one recourse — a loan. 
Accordingly on the 28th of June, 1841, the Territorial 
Agent made a loan of $5,000 of the Miners' Bank of 
Dubuque, and on the 30th of September of the same 
year an additional loan of $500. Both loans were negoti- 

1 Report of Acting Com., House Jour., 3rd Leg. Ass'y, page 22. 
• Report of Ter. Agent, House Jour., 4th Leg. Ass'y, page 36. 



The Territorial Capital. 69 

ated on the faith of the unsold lots in Iowa City. The 
$5,000 note was to be paid at the Bank of America in 
the city of New York, eighteen months after date, with 
interest at the rate of seven per cent, per annum, payable 
quarterly at the State Bank of Missouri in the city of St. 
Louis; while the $500 note, with the same rate of inter- 
est, was to be paid nine months after date at the State 
Bank of Missouri in the city of St. Louis. ^ But to the 
disgrace and humiliation of the Territory of Iowa, the 
$500 note was protested at the Bank of Missouri, and 
the $5,000 note was not fully settled until the year 1847,^ 
being nearly five years after it had become due. And in 
the meantime, the Assembly of lowa,^ as well as the 
Constitution of 1846, had closed the doors of the Miners' 
Bank. When paid, the Treasurer's report shows that 
this debt amounted to $6,931.23.-* 

It was, how^ever, in 1842 that the monetary scheme 
adopted by the Territorial Agents came to its logical 
conclusion — reftidiation. The large number of hands 
employed in March and April were all paid in scrip, 
issued and based exclusively on unsold lots, and made 
payable to the bearer and receivable at the office for all 
sales made after the first day of May. ^ The town was 
flooded with this scrip, and U. S. money began rapidly 
to disappear. 

At the office of the Territorial Agent the money 

1 Report of Ter. Agent, House Jour., 4th Leg. Ass'y, page 36. 

* Stat. Laws of Iowa, ist Session Gen. Ass'y, page 43. 

» Granted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Wisconsin 
in November, 1S36, the charter of the Miners' Bank of Dubuque was 
repealed by the Legislative Assembly of Iowa in May, 1S45. — See Stat, 
Laws, la. Ter., Session 1845 of Leg. Ass'y, page 54. 

* Report of State Treas., Stat. Laws of Iowa, Extra Session ist Gen. 
Ass'y, page 105. 

* Report of Ter. Agent, House Jour., 5th Leg. Ass'y, la. Ter., page 28. 



70 lozva City. 

famine took a serious turn. The laborers at the quarry 
and on the Capitol demanded at least money enough to 
supply their daily wants; for the scrip would not pass 
with the merchants for goods, ^ neither would it be taken 
by the farmers for provisions.- And all the while this 
scrip of 'forty-two, along with certificates of 'forty and 
'forty-one, was being returned to the office in payment 
for lots and for redemption. In this almost hopeless 
condition the Territorial Agent, prohibited by the Leg- 
islative Assembly from making any loans, began to 
repudiate scrip and certificates issued by his own office. 
It was but a partial repudiation, based upon technical 
discrimination, and naturally caused much dissatisfaction 
throughout the town. The Territorial Agent was finally 
called upon to explain his actions to the Assembly. 
Whereupon he set forth the whole matter, seeking justi- 
fication in the fact that his course of ^action was in keep- 
ing with the manifest intention of the Assembly to have 
the work on the Capitol carried on without further 
delay. 3 Good U. S. money was necessar}' to prosecute 
the work; and to obtain this money, repudiation was his 
only recourse. As to the technical discrimination, he 
explained that, the scrip of 'forty-two having been issued 
on the basis of unsold lots and receivable for lots sold 
after the first day of May, he did not consider himself 
bound to redeem it in any other way. Furthermore, in 
refusing to accept certificates of the issues of 'fort}' and 

1 A few merchants did receive scrip in pa\'ment for goods, but at a 
discount of nearly fifty percent. The firm of Murry Jt Sanxay received 
scrip to the amount of several thousand dollars, with the expectation of 
having it redeemed when presented to the Territory. This scrip was 
finally redeemed, but not entirely until 1S4S. 

* Report of Ter. Agent, House Jour., 5th Leg. Ass'y, la. Ter., page 2S. 

5 Ibid^ page 56. 



The Territorial Capital. 



71 



'forty-one in payment for arrears on lots sold in 1839, ^^ 
maintained that these certificates were based on lots sold 
in 'forty and 'fort3'-one and not on lots sold previous to 

that time. 1 The 
plain fact in the 
matter was, the 
Territorial 
Agent resorted 
to reptidia I ion 
because i t w a s 
his only means of 
getting money, 
and he adopted a 
technical dis- 
crimination to 
give this repudi- 
ation the face of 
justice. 

1 See Report of Ter. 
Agent, House Jour., 
5th Leg. Ass'y, la. 
Ter., pages 56, 57, 58. 

Note. — The speci- 
men of scrip given 
on this page is copied 
from a specimen of 
the issue of 1S42. — 
See House Journal of 
the Fifth Legislative 
Assemblv of the Ter- 
ritory of Iowa, page 
5S. 





j Eeal Estate Security, 


§52,700. 




-C t3 










.^ 




^ • 






_C t'^ 




a 






^._ ^ c/5 












<1 




Oh ^0 










is 






t ^ - 




-*3 




< h^ 







g 


s ^ 




&^ 




3 






to 


s c=q ^ 









% ^ 






^ 


a ^ "^ 






>) 


ii '3J r: 






*i 


S ^ oj 















^ 


.ti Tt 









CL> D. 






t— I 


rt _C ^ 


, 




^ 




-M 




-^ 


5 ■■" 


'^ 




'S 


= V, 


QO 




S 





fH 




ai 


>^ 












CO 


r~ ^^ 


t4— . 




^*-^ ,^ 







Is 


> ^ 


l:^ 




Oh 


_C "^ 


* •^ 






^k— u 


■ '^j 






> 
















<D 








^ 






-4— ' 






• 


U. 






fN ^h ^ 


CU 






# '^ 


'rt 




• 


OOi'Set 'Al-inoaS awsg 1^93 





7 2 lozua City. 

Cost of the Capitol. 

The reports of the Acting Commissioner and Terri- 
torial Agents are so compiled that it is impossible to 
work out with any satisfactory degree of accuracy the 
sums total of the receipts and expenditures involved in 
the erection of the Capitol. Some of the accounts of 
Chauncey Swan are exceedingly vague and indefinite. 
The reports are all too general and by no means uniform. 
Accounts on the Capitol are often inseparably connected 
with expenditures arising from the town surveys and 
improvements. 

I will, however, venture several approximations, which, 
although not strictly correct, are of sufficient accuracy as 
general estimates. The receipts arising from the sales of 
lots from 1839 to 1846 amount to about $75,000. The 
special cash appropriation of Congress was $20,000. At 
the Miners' Bank, $5,500 was borrowed. And after 
being admitted into the union the State made appropri- 
ations of between $15,000 and $20,000. This would 
make as receipts the total sum of about $117,000. After 
deducting from this sum $5,000 for expenses connected 
with the town surveys and incidental matters, there 
remains the sum of $112,000 for the erection of the 
Capitol. 

From another line of investigation I come to nearly 
the same estimate. After taking from the reports those 
accounts which seem to pertain to the Capitol alone, I 
find that they amount in total to nearly $111,500. We 
may therefore, I think, safely estimate the cost of the 
Capitol in round numbers as $112,000.^ 

' The cost has also been estimated at $123.000. — See loiva Historical 
Record, Vol. IV, page 107. 



The Territorial Capital. 73 

Local Government of the Territorial Capital. 

As the territorial capital, Iowa City had no corporate 
form of municipal government. In this respect it was 
behind the other important towns of the Territory. 

But it was certainly not the fault of the Legislative 
Assembly that Iowa City did not sooner become an 
organized municipal corporation; for as early as January 
1841, an act was passed to incorporate the town under a 
special charter. ^ Rejected at the time of its first passage, 
this act was successively revived in 1842^ and in 1844.^ 
As to the rejection of the act after its second revival in 
1844, the Cafital Reporter comments editorially as fol- 
lows: "We are gratified in being able to state that the 
good sense of our citizens has rejected the act for the 
incorporation of our city, revived at its last session by 
the Legislature. Had this act of incorporation gone into 
force, the consequences would have been in all probabil- 
ity, that our present taxes would have been at least 
doubled within one year — and the city but little benefited 
by the additional burden."'* The dread of the extra bur- 
den of taxation undoubtedly had much to do with the 
rejection of the charter. 

Another potent factor which meets us in the consider- 
ation of the attitude of the town towards municipal 
government is the peculiar circumstance which always 
confronts us when we attempt to analyze the character 
of Iowa City. I refer to the fact that Iowa City was 
originally founded and ozaned by the Territory. 

During the first six years of its existence, Iowa City 

' Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1S40-41 of Leg. Ass'j, page 97. 
» Stat. Laws, la. Ten, Session 1S41-42 of Leg. Ass'y, page 25. 
» Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1843-44 o^ Leg. Ass'y, page 156. 
*lozi'a Capital Reporter^ Vol. Ill, No. i6. 



74 



lozva City. 



was virtually controlled and managed by the officer* 
who had charge of the affairs of the Territory at the- 
capital. From 1839 ^^ 1841 this officer was styled 
"Acting Commissioner." From 1841 to 1845 he was 
styled "Territorial Agent," and shared his duties and 
influence with another officer known as "Superintendent 
of Public Buildings." These officers, it is true, were 
clothed with no municipal authority; but by virtue of the 
high prestige of their office they had a great infl^aence 
in local matters. ^ 



1 The 

1839 
1840 
1841 
1841 
1842 
1842 
1843 
1843 
1844 

1845 
1845 



following is a list of the 
Chauncey Swan 
Chauncey Swan 
Jessse Williams 
Chauncey Swan 
John M. Coleman 
Wm. B. Snyder 
John M. Coleman 
Wm. B. Snyder 
Anson Hart 
Anson Hart 
Morgan Reno . 



influential men from 1S39 to iS46': 

. Acting Commissioner. 

. Acting Commissioner. 

. Territorial Agent. 

. Superintendent of Public Buildings^ 

. Territorial Agent. 

. Superintendent of Public Buildings^ 

. Territorial Agent. 

. Superintendent of Public BuildingSv 

. Territorial Agent. 

. Territorial Agent. 

. Territorial Treasurer. 



V. 
EDUCATIONAL BEGINNINGS. 

" It is with a reverence such as is stirred by the head- 
waters of some mighty river that one looks back" to 
the educational beginnings in the town, which, having 
become the seat of the State University, is now the 
center from which comes the inspiration to higher edu- 
cation. 

These beginnings, although tiny when contemplated 
in the light of our present institutions, do, nevertheless, 
reflect much credit upon the character of the early 
inhabitants of Iowa City and the Territory of Iowa. 
Such a luxuriant growth of schools as sprung up during 
the first decade certainly indicates a richness of soil; 
and if they died prematurely, that was due to their 
over-abundance. Education, at first confined to private 
schools, was taken up after a few years b}^ academies 
and colleges, which in turn were succeeded by the for- 
mer system of private enterprise. The private schools 
reigned for about six years, when they were superseded 
by the free public schools established by the town 
council. 

It was in the year 1840 that Jesse Berry opened the 
first school in Iowa City in a one-story frame building, 
which he had erected on College street in block 84, just 
west of what is now known as " Coldren's Grocery." 
Here, in this building — ^which was used as school house, 



*j6 Iowa City. 

church and courthouse — the children of Iowa City first 
met to learn to read and write and spell and count. 
Jesse Berry was a "school-master" of the "old school 
days" of which the present generation knows but little. ^ 
He was a faithful teacher and highly respected through- 
out the town. Sometime during the same year, I. M. 
Choate opened another private school on Market street, 
in that little old frame building which still stands on the 
north side of block 78, just back of the English Lutheran 
church. 

1 The following extracts are from the original note-book of Jesse 
Berry, which has been preserved in the library of the Iowa State His- 
torical Society. These extracts are fitting illustrations of the cost of 
education in a pioneer community; of the way in which tuition was 
paid; and of the annoyances with which the early school- masters had to 
contend. 

Jesse Berry. Iowa City, 1840-41. 

F E Jones Dr. 

to tuition up to the time he ran away 9.00 

by washing up to the same time Cr 2.00 

Walter Butler Cr $ Cts. 

By cash S-^'^/i 

By 100 brick 60 

To tuition up to the 20 of August 1S40 15-87/4 

Sanford Harned Cr. 

by washing one pair pantaloons i.oo 

John Crum Dr. 

To tuition 1200 

To house rent 5.00 

By hauling one load of posts 75 

I chicken laj^ 

April yth., received payment by taking a due bill • . . 16.123^ 

Benjamin Weiser Dr 

To tuition up to the 30 Aug. 1840 8.00 

Cr. 
By 3 days work @ $1.75 per day 5.25 



Educational Beginnings. 77 

Mechanics' Academy. 

The movement in favor of higher educational institu- 
tions was inaugurated by the " Mechanics' Mutual Aid 
Association of Iowa City" in 1842 — notwithstanding the 
incorporation of a certain " Iowa Seminary " as early as 
December, 1840. This Mutual Aid Association was 
organized on the 6th of January, 1841, by seven Iowa 
City mechanics. It was a thoroughly public-spirited 
association and at once became very popular, increasing 

David A Burns Dr. 

To tuition up to Aug. 20. 1S40 S.oo 

By mending i pair of slices ^7^ 

George Ressler Cr. 

bj hauling brick and mortar 38 

C K Ward Cr. 

by 1 lb candles 25 

Sanford Harned Dr. 

To tuition 4.75 

To $1.00 tax paid sheriff i.oo 

Cr, 

By washing 50 

By ij^ days work 2.623^ 

Joseph Stover Dr. 

to tuition 48^^ days 3-25 

George T. Andrews Dr. 

to tuition 120 days 8.00 

Walter Butler Dr. 

3 spelling Books 1.75 

to county order 5.00 

Benjamin Weiser 

2 Spelling Books , 51 

B P Moore .4 bushel potatoes M B 

Evans 34 bushel Ruta Bagas M B @ 25 

Butler 17 " " " " @ 25 

Butler 25 bushel corn M B 

Kelby . i " omons " @ 50 



78 lozua City. 

its membership from seven to sixty in the course of one 
year. The greatest work of the association was the 
founding of the " Mechanics' Academy." 

The academy building w^as erected in 1842 on the 
"School Reserve" east of the "City Park," the south 
half of which reserve was donated in 1842/ and the 
north half in 1844^ to the Mechanics' Association, for 
literary purposes. On the 14th of June the corner stone 
was laid; and a proud da}' that was for the members 
of the association. "Agreeable to invitation, the citi- 
zens assembled about 2 o'clock in the temporary State 
House 3 for the purpose of forming a procession and 
marching to the building to witness the ceremony of 
laying the corner stone of the Mechanics' Academy. 
Business was suspended and all classes left their occu- 
pations, and devoted the afternoon to the recreations 
attendant upon the occasion. The procession formed 
about 4 o'clock, and after marching through the princi- 
pal streets of the city, proceeded to the ground. At the 
head of the procession we noticed different clergymen 
of the city, next came the invited guests of the Associ- 
ation, then the officers of the Association, the teachers 
and children of the different schools, and a large con- 
course of citizens brought up the rear. The choir of 
the Methodist Protestant Church lent their aid in the 
entertainment."'* The oration of the day was delivered 
by the Rev. John Libby. 

Filled with enthusiasm for the enterprise so favorably 
begun, the mechanics pushed forward the work on the 

1 Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1S41-42 of Leg. Ass'y, page 5. 

2 Stat. Laws, la. Ter.. Session 1S43-44 of Leg. Ass'y, page 79. 

3 Butler's Capitol. See Chapter IV on "The Territorial Capital," 
page 58. 

* loxva Capitol Reporter, Vol. I, No. 29. 



Educational Beginnings. 79 

Academy with much vigor. As in the erection of a dam 
by the Iowa City Manufacturmg Company, little money 
was required to carry on this educational enterprise. 
For the stock-holders paid for their shares in labor and 
material; the mason contributed his labor in the laying 
of the walls, and the carpenter his skill and his lumber. 
In this novel manner the mechanics erected a two-story 
brick building fifty-four and a half feet long by twenty- 
six and a half feet wide. When completed it was the 
finest school building in all the Territory. Within its 
walls the State University of Iowa had its beginning. 

In i860 the University rented the academy building 
for a period of five years at an annual rent of $300. By 
this time the bulk of the stock had fallen into the hands 
of Robert Hutchinson, ^ who in a deal wdth the Univer- 
sity gave up all his claim to this property in exchange 
for a lot on College street,^ which had come into the 
possession of the University on the foreclosure of a 
mortgage. In 1866, however, the General Assembly 
declared that the original "School Reserve" as granted 
to the Mechanics' Mutual Aid Association had reverted 
to the State because it had been used for other than 
"literary purposes;" and in order to give the University 
a clear title to the property the General Assembly re- 
donated the "Reserve" to the University. ^ 

The Academy was divided into two departments: a 
"male department" and a "female department." The 
female department w^as opened to students as early as 
June, 1843; while the male department w\as first organ- 
ized in October. During the winter session of 1843-44, 

1 The original stock-holders sold their shares to Mr. Hutchinson at a 
great discount. 

« See Archives of the State University, Record A, page 266. 
s Stat. Laws of Iowa, nth Gen. Ass'y, page 58. 



8o loiva City. 

one hundred and twenty students were enrolled. Messrs-. 
W. Hamilton and H. Hamilton assisted by Mrs. Hamp- 
ton conducted the school under the direction of the 
trustees. 

With all its favorable and promising beginnings the 
Mechanics' Academy was soon abandoned. The mem- 
bers of the association lost interest in the institution and' 
left it to die for want of proper support. It is, never- 
theless, ver}' probable that it would have developed into 
a first-class academy had not so many other schools 
sprung up about that time to rob it of its patronage. 

Snethen Seminary. 

The "Snethen Seminary "^ was established in 1844, 
by the Illinois Conference of the Methodist Protestant 
denomination. According to the original plan of organ- 
ization there was to be a preparatory, a collegiate and a 
theological department. W. B. Snyder was the chief 
promoter of the institution, and W. K. Talbot was the 
principal teacher. The Methodist Protestant church on 
Iowa Avenue was used for recitation purposes. Snethen 
Seminary was never a strong school, and when trouble 
arose with the principal, Mr. Talbot, it went down 
rapidly. Its total existence fell short of two years. 

Iowa City College. 

By an act of the Legislative Assembly approved 
February 15th, 1843, "Iowa City College" was incor- 
porated. ^ Established by and under the auspices of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, this college was to be 

1 Named in honor of Nicholas Snethen, of Cincinnati, a prominent 
clercfyman in the Methodist Protestant denomination. 

* Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1842-43 of Leg. Ass'y, page 75. 



Educational Beginnings, 8i 

founded upon " a plan most suitable for the benefit of 
the youth of every class of citizens and of every relig- 
ious denomination, who shall be freely admitted to equal 
advantages and privileges."^ The Board of Trustees 
together with the Faculty were granted the power "to 
confer upon the deserving any and all degrees in the 
arts and in the learned professions." The north half of 
block tlve was donated to the college, provided that a 
college edifice be erected thereon within a limited time.- 
On the 3rd day of April, 1843, the Board of Trustees 
were sworn in with the Rev. James L. Thompson as 
President; and in April, 1846, the College was organized 
by James Harlan, ^ who took charge of the institution as 
" President and Professor of Mental and Moral Science." 
Mr. Harlan was assisted by an additional professor and 
several instructors. The grade of studies actually taught 
was preparatory. For recitation and other school pur- 
poses the College occupied the editice on Iowa Avenue 
formerly owned and occupied by the Methodist Protest- 
ant denomination. (The Methodist Episcopal church 
had recently purchased this building from the Methodist 
Protestants.) Like its predecessors, Iowa City College 
was in active operation less than two years. It was 
brought to a close primarily by the resignation of Mr. 
Harlan.^ During its existence it was satisfactorily suc- 
cessful as a college preparatory school. ^ 

' Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1842-43 of Leg. Ass'y, page 76. 

2 Ibid^ page So. 

» Now the Hon. James Harlan, of Mt. Pleasant. 

* Mr. Harlan resigned because he had been elected Superintendent of 
Public Instruction in Iowa. 

"* The facts relating to Iowa City College were given to me by Hon. 
James Harlan, who is still living. 



82 lovja City. 

Iowa City University. 

Of all the early educational projects, that of the Iowa 
City Universit}' was the most elaborate in its scheme of 
organization and the most detailed in its plan of opera- 
tion. In short it was to be a university; and in this sense 
it was the precursor of the present State University. 

Iowa City Universit}^ was incorporated by an act of 
the Legislative Assembly approved June 2nd, 1845.1 
The act provided: that the University shall be under 
the direction of a board of thirty regents, ^ who shall 
hold their first meeting at the Capitol on the first Mon- 
dav in June, 1845; that the first Board of Regents 
chosen by the stockholders shall be elected on the first 
Monday in March, 1845, and ever afterwards once in 
every three years; that the stock of said University shall 
consist of shares of twenty-five dollars each; that the 
Governor of Iowa shall be, ex-officio. President of the 
Board of Regents; that the Board of Regents shall have 
power to connect with the University a Law School and 
a Medical School, and may admit charity students, re- 
ceive donations and bequests for the University, and 
confer any and all degrees in the arts and in the learned 
professions — and in conferring such honors any person 
entitled to a seat in the Council or House of Representa- 
tives shall be entitled to a seat and vote with the Board 
of Regents. 

1 Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Se.ssion 1S45 of Leg. AssV, page 61. 

- Regents were: Smylie H. Bonham, Charles R. Fisk, H. D. Dow- 
ney, William K. Talbot, James Robinson, Robert Gower, A. H. Daven- 
port, Edward E. Fay, Morgan Reno, Edward Johnson, G. W. JeftVies, 
A. B. Robbins, James Clark, ^L D. Talbot, -John McConnell, E. B. 
Turner, Josiah H. Bonney, Joseph B. Teas, William Patterson, Moses 
Beers, George S. Hampton, Joseph B. Davis, E. Metcalf, F. Springer, 
R. F. Shinn, William Abbe, Thomas S. Wilson, John Brophy, and G. 
H. Walworth. 



Educational Beginnings. 83 

Besides the articles of incorporation, the only other 
source of information regarding this University is a small 
bundle of letters and papers preserved in the Hbrary of 
the State Historical Society. From these we learn that 
James Robinson was President of the Iowa City Univer- 
sity, and in the absence of the Governor, served as 
President of the Board of Regents; that George S. 
Hampton was Secretary; that agents were sent out to 
solicit "donations and bequests;" and that "the multi- 
plicity of agents for the various benevolent causes and 
the Society to aid Western Colleges " were a " great 
hinderance" to these University agents. Furthermore 
from these same papers we learn that it was resolved: 
"That there be a preparatory department to the I. C. 
University which shall go into immediate operation, and 
also that classes be organized for the University itself 
as fast as students may be obtained or are sufficiently 
advanced for the purpose;" that "any selected professor 
of the University who shall obtain funds sufficient to 
endow a professorship shall be permanently continued;" 
that the practical duties of rehgion may be recommended 
by the professors to the students of the University, yet 
no sectarian tenets shall be taught to the students of said 
University; that students who are unable to defray the 
expense of tuition, on producing evidence thereof, shall 
be entitled to have their tuition free, provided they 
evince a scholarship to entitle them to this favor." 

The committee appointed to employ instructors for 
the preparatory department reported that they had 
secured the services of the Rev. W. R. Talbot, the Rev. 
W. D. Talbot and the Rev. Charles R. Fisk as said 
instructors. 

A committee also recommended "that the Sessions of 



84 Iowa City. 

each Department consist of five calendar months each, 
and that all, except such as with whom a special agree- 
ment is made at entrance, by the trustees or professors, 
be taxed for not less than a whole session, unless in the 
opinion of the trustees they are detained by sickness, 
and the prices of tuition be per session, as follows: 

For Orthographj-, Reading, Writing, Mental Arithmetic . . . $3.75 

For Orthography, Arithmetic, Grammar and the commencement 

of Latin 6.00 

Modern and Ancient Geograpliy, History, Elements of Astron- 
omy, Natural, Mental and Moral Philosophy, Mineralogy, 
Geology, Botany, Rhetoric, Logic, Mathematics, etc., and the 
remaining Collegiate studies S.50 

To the above prices $1.00 per session to be added where payment is 
delayed to the close of the Session. 

Agents of the Iowa City University went as far south 
as Kentucky and as far east as Boston to solicit dona- 
tions. In the library of the State Historical Society there 
are about one hundred and forty volumes, some of them 
over one hundred years old, which were presented to 
the University.! 

The only evidence that the University was ever put 
into actual operation is, that in the latter part of March, 
1846, there was a public examination, and at the public 
exhibition given on the ist and 2nd of April "the origi- 
nal addresses, dissertations, dialogues and disputations of 
the young ladies and gentlemen, a portion of which were 
in Greek and Latin, were all respectable, and many of 
them of superior quality." ^ 

1 These same books were afterwards donated to the " Iowa Female 
Collegiate Institute." 

2 Capitol Reporter, Vol. V, No. 10. 



Educational Beginnings. 85 

From Private to Public Schools. 

The whole movement toward higher education was 
premature. There was neither wealth nor patronage in 
Iowa adequate for its proper support. Consequently 
the birth of Academy, Seminary, College and University, 
all within the period of five or six years, proved fatal. 
There was not patronage enough for all: and in the 
struggle for existence the}- strangled each other. Not 
one of these larger institutions survived; and education 
was again left to private individual enterprise. 

Thus in proportion as these more ambitious attempts 
failed, private schools flourished. Mr. Choate's school 
had continued all the while; and as earlv as September, 
1 841, Mrs. HuHn opened a school for young ladies^ in a 
little house on block 61, near the corner of Linn and 
Washington streets. From the Standard we learn that 
in 1843 there were two private schools in operation: 
one conducted by Dr. W. Reynolds, called the "Select 
School" and numbering forty pupils; the other num- 
bered thirty-five pupils and was managed by Mr. Hart.^ 

In 1844 there was still another private school, known 
as the "Iowa City Institute. "^ Three years later, H. W. 
Lathrop (now' librarian of the State Historical Society) 
opened a school in the basement of the old Methodist 
Protestant church. From 1847 to 1S53, private enter- 
prise in education reached the acme of its success. 

But the transition from private to public education had 
already set in as early as 1847. Iowa City township* 

1 lozva City Standard, Vol. II, No. 13. 

2 lo-Ma Statidard^ Vol. Ill, No. 32. 
* lotva Standard, Vol. IV, No. 46. 

■* The number of school children returned for the whole township in 
1847 was 416; and the school fund apportionment for the same vear 
was $170.60. 



86 lozva City. 

was then divided into two districts, viz: No. i, southern, 
and No. 2, northern. On the 25th of TMay, 1S47, Mr. 
A. G. Gower opened the tirst free public school ^ in the 
building, which by that time had become noted as a 
school ediiice — the Methodist Protestant churchmen 
Iowa Avenue. (It was at the close of Mr. Gower's first 
term that Mr. Lathrop opened his school in the same 
building.) But for six years after this beginning, the 
free schools were of little consequence, there being no 
adequate funds for their support. There was no local 
taxation for educational purposes, and the apportionment 
from the State was meager. 

The change from the private to the public system of 
education is interestingh^ illustrated in the experience of 
H. W. Lathrop in the northern district. When the free 
school was closed for want of funds, Mr. Lathrop would 
organize private classes. But when the state apportion- 
ment was received he would secure the contract for the 
free school, take his private pupils with him and become 
a public teacher. When the public funds were exhausted 
he would again organize his private classes. But after 
the incorporation of Iowa City in 1853, all this came to 
and end, and an efficient system of ward schools was 
established by the town council. 

lowA Fe:\iale Collegiate Institute. 

As the period of educational beginnings was coming 
to a close a final attempt was made to establish a large 
educational institution. The scheme this time was in- 
augurated by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
and aimed at the founding of a female seminary. As the 

1 loz-.'a Standard, New Series, Vol. I, No. 47. 

2 Called at this time the •' Colleee Buildiiw." 



Educational Beginnings. 87 

originator of this project, the Rev. A. Russell Belden 
tirst laid his plans before the lodge on the 20th of July, 
1853. On the records of the next meeting of the lodge 
appears the following: '■'■Resolved, That this lodge sub- 
scribe $600.00 for the erection of a Female Seminar}^ in 
Iowa City, under the articles of incorporation proposed 
by Bro. A. R. Belden, etc."i 

Under the name of the "Iowa Female ColleLriate 
Institute" the proposed institution was incorporated for 
a period of twenty years, beginning with the 29th dav 
of Jul}', 1853. The capital stock, which was divided into 
shares of twenty-tive dollars each, was not to exceed 
twenty-five thousand dollars nor be less than five 
thousand dollars, and was to be "raised by voluntar}- 
donations to the institution by encampments, lodges, 
members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and 
other friends of the enterprise." One hundred dollars 
in stock secured a fellowship consisting of free tuition in 
all branches of the collegiate department for twent}' 
years or for life. "The sole government of the school, 
together with the use of the buildings, appurtenances, 
and profits of said school shall be vested in A. Russell 
Belden and Sarah L. Allen during the period of twenty 
years under the direction of the Board of Trustees. The 
Board of Trustees shall consist of the principals of the 
institution and two persons chosen annually from each 
lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Iowa 
City." 

The new enterprise had the confidence of the com- 
munity and the lodges, and six thousand dollars was 
speedily raised. The use of the west half of College 

1 Historical Sketch of Kosciusko Lodge, I. O. O. F., Iowa City, 
page II. 



88 lo'^a City. 

Green (now known as College-hill Park) was granted 
by the town council^ as a site for the seminary building, 
which was located near the southwest corner. The 
corner stone^ was laid in October. C. O. Waters, of 
Muscatine, delivered the address on this occasion, and 
R. H. Sylvester read a poem. 

The erection of the seminary building was under the 
personal direction of Mr. Belden, who indeed was the 
chief promoter of the whole undertaking. As planned 
by Mr. Banbury, the building was to be constructed of 
brick, thirty by eighty feet and three stories high. By 
the month of August, 1S55, the walls of the basement 
and first stor}- were completed, when Mr. Belden sud- 
denly died of Asiatic cholera. This sad death proved 
disastrous to the Iowa Female Collegiate Institute; for 
no one could be found with the abilitv and enthusiasm 
necessary to carry on the work so successfullv begun. 

In 1856, C. Billings Smith made an attempt to revive 
the fallen enterprise but met with complete failure. Col- 
lege Green reverted to the town, and in the course of 
time the half-completed walls were torn awav. With 
the downfall of the Iowa Female Collegiate Institute, 
Iowa City witnessed the last failure to establish a large 
educational institution in her midst. State institutions 
now became the principal factors in Iowa Citv's educa- 
tional histor}-. 

School for the Blind. 

By an act of the General Assemblv approved Januar}' 
iSth, 1853,3 an "Asylum for the Blind" was established 

' bee Ordinance No. 20 in City Ordinances publishied in 1S57. 
2 The contents of the box placed in the corner stone are preserved in 
the library of the Iowa State Historical Society. 
^ Stat. Laws of Iowa, 4tii Gen. Ass'y, page 47. 



Educational Beginnings. 89 

at Iowa City under the principalship of Samuel Bacon. 
The institution was opened for the reception of students 
on the 4th of April, JMr. Bacon was assisted by T. J. 
McGittigen as instructor in music, and bv Mrs. Sarah K. 
Bacon, as matron. As principal, Mr. Bacon, though 
blind himself, conducted the institution with eminent 
success. In August, 1S62, the school was removed from 
low^a City to Vinton, in Benton County. 

School for the Deaf and Dumb. 

The State "Institution for the Deaf and Dumb" was 
established at Iowa City in accordance with an act of 
the General Assembly approved January 24th, 1855.^ 
At that time, out of the three hundred and one deaf 
mutes in the State, fifty attended this state school. W. 
E. Ijams, who in fact had started the institution as a 
private school, was made principal; but in 1S62 he re- 
signed and Benjamin Talbot was appointed in his stead. 
In 1866 a strong effort was made to remove the institu- 
tion to Des Moines, which failed. Soon afterwards, 
however, it was removed to Council Bluffs. 

Churches. 

It can hardl}' be charged that Iowa City was the seat 
of inlidelitv; for the (jrowth of her churches was as 
luxuriant as the growth of her schools, and far more 
persistent. Almost from the very beginning the inhabit- 
ants of Iowa Citv were surrounded by the most favor- 
able reha'ious conditions. Within a single decade seven 
different societies had been organized and seven church 
buildings erected. 

1 Stat. Laws of Iowa, 5th Gen. AssV, page 133. 



po lozva City. 

The impetus and diversity given to religious develop- 
ment in these early years were, however, in a measure 
the result of an outside stimulus as found in the liberal 
policy of making certain land donations. This policy 
was outlined by Chauncey Swan in 1S39, when on the 
town plat he caused four half-blocks 10 be reserved for 
church purposes. 1 (See Chapter II on "The Founding 
of Iowa City," page 30.) In keeping with Mr. Swan's 
policy the Legislative Assembly in July, 1840, passed 
"i\N x\cT to grant certain lots of land in Iowa City, for 
'Church and Literary purposes." According to this act 
any religious denomination then existing in the United 
States was entitled to one equal half of any of the 
reserved half-blocks, " conditioned that they will erect 
and finish on said lot a meeting house or place of wor- 
ship within three years from the passage of this act." 
The conditions of the act, it will be observed, neces- 
sitated immediate action on the part of those denomina- 
tions wishing to obtain the benefits of the land donations. 

From 1S40 to 1843, there seems to have been a gen- 
eral religious movement in Iowa City, which resulted 
in the organization of local branches of the following 
denominations: Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Protest- 
ant, Catholic, Presbyterian, New School Presbyterian, 
Baptist and UniversaUst. Of these all but the Pres- 
byterian and New School Presbyterian built on lots 
reserved and granted by the Territory in accordance 
with the conditions above named. 

1 Chui-ch street derived its name from the circumstance of having 
been the street on which two of the reservations Avere located. No 
churches, however, were ever erected on Church street. 



VI. 

THE STATE CAPITAL. 

First Constitutional Convention. 

Iowa Citv is preeminently the historical capital of 
Iowa. For not only was it the permanent capital of the 
Territory of Iowa, but, upon the admission of the Ter- 
ritory into the Union, it also served as capital of the 
State for a period of twelve years. 

Two years and ten months after the first meeting of 
the Legislative Assembly at Iowa City, "An Act to 
provide for the expression of the opinion ^ of the people of 
the Territory of Iowa upon the subject of the formation 
of a State Constitution for the State of Iowa" was passed 
by the Assembly and approved February 12th, 1844.^ 
At the township elections held in the month of April 
following the passage of this act, the people of the Ter- 
ritory decided by large majorities in favor of a consti- 
tutional convention. Accordingly at the next regular 
election seventy-two delegates were chosen to attend 
such a convention. 3 

On Monday, October 7th, 1844, the delegates from 

1 Before the Assembly had ever met at Iowa City, State Government 
liad ah-eady been talked of in parts of the Territory. — Bloomington 
Herald,\o\. II, No. 6. 

^ Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1S43-44, page 13. 

3 In the election of delegates the Democrats were victorious, electing 
a majority of the delegates. 



'92 lozva City. 

the different counties of the Territory assembled in the 
Capitol at Iowa City to draft a constitution for the future 
State. The convention was called to order by Gen. 
Francis Gehon,.of Dubuque County, and upon his motion 
Ralph P. Lowe, of Muscatine, was appointed President 
^ro tern. The Rev. Mr. Snethen opened the convention 
with prayer.^ After the delegates had presented their 
credentials, committees were appointed to examine these 
credentials and prepare rules for the government of the 
convention.- 

On the day following. Shepherd Leffler, of Des 
Moines County, was unanimously elected President of 
the convention. After listening to a short speech by 
Mr. Leffler the delegates at once vigorously applied 
themselves to the task before them in a business-like 
manner. 3 A constitution having been formulated, the 
first constitutional convention, after a session of twenty- 
four days, adjourned sine die on the morning of Novem- 
ber ist, 1844.^ 

The Boundary Dispute. 

But when the constitution of 1S44 was presented to 
Congress a dispute arose between Congress and the 
people of the Territory over the question of state 
boundaries. As fixed by the constitutional convention 
the boundaries of the future State were : 

Beginning in the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi river 
opposite the mouth of the Des Moines river; thence up the said river 

1 A motion to have the convention opened eacli day with prayer 
•was, after considerable discussion running through several days, indefi- 
nitely postponed. — See Journal of Convention, page 31. 

2 Jcairnal of Convention, pages 3, 4. 

3 lov.a Cafital Reporter, \o\. Ill, No. 40. 
■• Journal of Convention, page 211. 



The State Capital. 93 

Des Moines in the middle of the main channel thereof, to a point where 
it is intersected by the Old Indian Boundary line, or line run by John. 
C. Sullivan in the year 1S16; thence westvvardly along said line to the 
"Old North-west corner of Missouri;" thence due west to the middle 
of the main channel of the Missouri river; thence up in the middle of 
the main channel of the river last mentioned to the mouth of the Sioux 
or Calumet river; thence in a direct line to the middle of the main 
channel of the St. Peter's river, where the Watonwan river (according 
to Nicollet's map) enters the same; thence down the middle of the main 
channel of said river to the middle of the main channel of the Missis- 
sippi river; thence down the middle of the main channel of said river, 
to the place of beginning. ^ 

Congress was not satisfied with these boundaries, and 
in an act approved March 3rd, 1845, ordered that part 
of the constitution which referred to boundaries to read : 

Beginning al the mouth of the Des Moines river, at the middle of the 
Mississippi, thence by the middle of the channel of that river to a par- 
allel of latitude passing through the mouth of the Mankato or Blue- 
Eaith river, thence west along the said parallel of latitude to a point 
where it is intersected by a meridian line, seventeen degrees and thirty 
minutes west of the meridian of Washington city, thence due south to 
the northern boundary line of the state of Missouri, thence eastwardly 
following that boundary to the point at which the same intersects the 
Des Moines river, thence by the middle of the channel of that river to 
the place of beginning. - 

In April the new state constitution was submitted to 
the people of the Territory. But the people, unwilling 
to concede to the few changes made in the boundaries 
by Congress, rejected the constitution entire. 

When the Legislative Assembly met in June, 1845, an 
act was passed ordering the constitution to be re-submit- 
ted to the people of the Territory upon the first Monday 
of August for their ratification or rejection: '■'■Provided^ 
That the ratification of the constitution shall not be con- 
strued as an acceptance of the boundaries fixed by Con- 

» Journal of Convention, page 187. 

' U. S. Stat, at Large, Vol. V, page 742. 



94 Iowa City. 

gress in the late act of admission, and the admission 
shall not be deemed complete until whatever condition 
may be imposed by Congress, shall be ratified by the 
people."^ At the August election the constitution of 
1844 was again rejected by the people of the Territory. 

Negro Suffrage. 

In these early days there existed in Iowa a predomi- 
nant sentiment against negro suffrage. Accordingl}' the 
provisions relating to suffrage incorporated in the con- 
stitution drafted in 1844 read: "Every zuhite male, etc." 
Yet there did exist a small minority who advocated 
negro suffrage; and when the convention of 1844 met 
at Iowa City to draft a constitution for the future State, 
a petition, praying that all the rights and privileges of 
other citizens be granted also to people of color, was 
presented and read to the convention. A few days after 
the readmg of the petition, the committee appointed to 
consider it reported that in their opinion it would be 
inexpedient to grant the prayer of the petition. And in 
support of their position the committee attempted to 
reconcile the doctrine of expediency with the social 
compact theory of government, as will be seen in the 
following: 

That all men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator 
with equal unalienable rights, your committee are free to admit: Tliat 
so far as nature is concerned those rights are as sacred to the black man 
as the white man, and should be so regarded. This however is a mere 
abstract proposition, and although strictly true, when applied to man in 
a state of nature ; yet it becomes very much modified when man is con- 
sidered in the. artificial state in which government and society places 
him. Thus the infant is not entitled to liberty or the pursuits of hap- 
piness until he arrives at the age of twenty-one years. Females by the 

> Stat. Laws, la. Ter. Session 1S45, page 3;. 



The State Capital. 95 

arbitrary rules of society are excluded and debarred from many things 
which males consider rights and high privileges — such as the elective 
franchise, holding oftice, kc. Now in these cases the female and infant 
are denied what we abstractly term unalienable rights, and they submit 
without complaint or murmer. No one thinks of svmpathizing with 
them in their deprivations. The philanthropist has never had occasion 
to commiserate their fate, still it is in those respects the same as the 
citizen of color. The negro is surely no better than our wives and chil- 
dren, and should not excite sympathy when they desire the political 
rights which they are deprived of. 

The great error that exists in the minds of our citizens who reason 
in favor of negro suffrage and citizenship, arises from their mingling the 
natural and artificial rights of man, and treating the artificial institu- 
tions of government as sacred and as undeniable to man as the abstract 
rights of nature ; a position which is untrue in point of fact, and in 
opposition to the experience of the whole world. Governments are 
strictly conventional, and although based upon the laws of nature, they 
are necessarily limited and circumscribed in their operation. It is made 
for those who are to be benefitted by it, and is not bound to unbar its 
doors and receive every vagrant who may take refuge in it. 

Government is an institution or an association entered into by man, 
the very constitution of which changes or modifies to a greater or less 
extent his natural lights. Some are surrendered, others modified. The 
compensation for tliese sacrifices, is found in the greater securitv in 
those rights retained, and a cheapening of the expense of protecting 
them. It is a means sought by man to make more available, secure, 
and certain his unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuits of hap- 
piness. Thus the citizen acquires a species of property in his govern- 
ment, which he has a right to enjoy without molestation and without 
disturbance. In forming or iiiaintaining a government it is the privi- 
lege and duty of those who have or are about to associate together for 
that purpose to modify and limit the rights or wholly exclude from the 
association, any and every species of persons who would endanger, les- 
sen or in the least impair the enjoyment of these rights. We have seen 
that the application of this principle limits the rights of our sons, modi- 
fies the privileges of our wives and daughters, and would not be unjust 
if it excluded the negro altogether. — 'Tis the party to the compact that 
should complain, not the stranger. Even hospitality does not sanction 
complaint under such circumstances. True, these persons may be un- 
fortunate, but the government is not unjust. 

If your committee are correct in their views, the question presented 
for consideration is plainly this: Would the admission of the negro as 
a citizen tend in the least to lessen, endanger or impair the enjoyment 



96 lozva City. 

of our governmental institutions — in other words would the accession 
of a negro population produce any of these consequences. If it would 
we should be unwise to admit them, if it would not, then it would be 
wanton and wrong to exclude them. The whole subject should be 
properly treated as a question of policy or contract where self interest is 
just as properly consulted, as in the promotion of a commercial treaty 
or a private contract. 'Tis the -vhite population who are about to form 
a government for themselves — no negro is represented in this conven- 
tion, and no one proposes to become a member of the compact. 'Tis the 
white population of this Territory who petition for the admission of the 
negro. They necessarily believe that the introduction of such a popu- 
lation as citizens would not interfere with the enjoyments of the white 
citizens, or they place this admission on the ground that the negro has 
the arbitrary claim, based as a natural right. The proposition would 
stand thus: 

1st, That the negroes are a desirable or at least a harmless popu- 
lation : 

2nd, That the negro has a natural right to be admitted as an equal 
citizen. 

The former proposition begs, the latter commands. 

Can the negro be admitted to those privileges and not impair the 
rights of the whites.'' your committee think not. The Government then 
would be unjust to admit them. The negro not being a party to the 
government has no right to partake of its privileges. 

However your committee may commiserate with the degraded condi- 
tion of the negroes, and feel for his fate, yet they can never consent to 
open the doors of our beautiful State and invite him to settle our lands. 
The policy of other States would drive the whole black population of 
th^ Union upon us. The ballot box would fall into their hands and a 
train of evils would follow that in the opinion of 3'our committee would 
be incalculable. The rights of persons would be less secure, and private 
property materially impaired. The injustice to the white population 
would be beyond computation. There are strong reasons to induce the 
belief that the two i-aces could not exist in the same government upon 
an equality without discord and violence, that might eventuate in insur- 
rection, bloodshed and final extermination of one of the two races. No 
one can doubt that a degraded prostitution of moral feeling would ensue, 
a tendency to emalgamate the two races would be superinduced, a de- 
graded and reckless population would follow; idleness, crime and 
misery would come in their train, and government itself fall into anar- 
chy or despotism. Having these views of the subject your committee 
think it inexpedient to grant the prayer of the petition. ^ 

1 Journal of Convention, page 52. 



The State Capital. py 

Second Constitutionai. Convention. 

The constitution of 1S44 had been rejected; but by 
an exceedingly small majority. The sentiment in favor 
of state government was still strong throughout the 
Territory; and on the 17th day of January, 1846, an act 
of the Legislative Assembly was approved providing for 
the election of delegates to a convention to form a con- 
stitution and state government. ^ In pursuance of this 
act thirty-two delegates were elected at the township 
elections held in April. 

On the 4th day of May, 1846, the second constitu- 
tional convention convened at Iowa City in the halls of 
the Capitol. Enos Lowe was elected President of the 
convention. As in 1844 there w^as a business-like dis- 
posal of the work in hand. There was no loafing, no 
waste of public funds. In the course of two weeks the 
labors of the convention were completed, and final ad- 
journment w^as made on May 19th. The constitution 
adopted by this convention was subsequently accepted 
by the people of the Territory on the 3rd day of 
August, 1846, by a vote of 9,492 to 9,036.2 

The two important questions discussed in the conven- 
tion of 1846 related, the one to state boundaries, and the 
other to corporations (especially banking corporations). 
After much debate the question of state boundaries was 
settled by the adoption of those lines which to this day 
obtain for the State. The discussion on corporations 
was more intense and resulted in the total prohibition, 
for a time, of all banking business within the limits of 
Iowa. 

1 Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1S45-46, page 37. 
8 Bloomington Herald, New Series, Vol. I, No. 22. 



98 loiva City. 

The Abolition of Banks. 

The hostility toward banking corporations, which was 
so effectually incorporated in the constitution of 1846, 
was as old as the Territory. It first manifested itself 
in repeated attacks on the Miners' Bank of Dubuque. 
Inherited from the Territory of Wisconsin, ^ the Miners' 
Bank never was cherished by the people of Iowa. 
Indeed it was looked upon by them with a feeling of 
jealousy and suspicion. Intensified by the hard times 
that followed the panic of 1837, this feehng began to call 
for the repeal of the Bank's charter. At the same time 
a general movement against banking corporations was 
inaugurated throughout the Territory. 

The strength of this sentiment in 1844 may be gauged 
by section 3 of article IX of the State constitution drafted 
in that year, which section reads: 

The Legislature shall create no bank or banking institution, or cor- 
poration with banking privileges in this State, unless the charter with 
all its provisions, shall be submitted to a vote of the people at a general 
election for State officers, and receive a majority of the votes of the 
■qualified electors of this State, cast for and against it. 

In 1845 the Legislative Assembly repealed the char- 
ter of the Miners' Bank of Dubuque and provided for 
"winding up the affairs of the same."- This action of 
the Assembly w^as based upon the charge that the char- 
ter had been abused or misused. On the other hand, 
the Miners' Bank maintained that there had been no 
such abuse or misuse, and resisted the enforcement of 
the act. The matter was then taken to the courts, and 
a decision rendered against the Bank by the Supreme 

1 See Chapter IV on "The Territorial Capital," page 69, foot-note 3. 
• Stat. Laws, la. Ter., Session 1S45 of Leg. Ass'v, page 54. 



The State Capital. 99 

Court. 1 Whether the Assembly was justified in abolish- 
ing the Miners' Bank, I do not know. But in repealing 
the charter without at the same time making satis- 
factory arrangements for the payment of certain just 
debts 2 due the Bank from the Territory, the Legislative 
Assembly certainly committed a disgraceful breach of 
faith. 

The movement against banking corporations did not 
end with the repeal of the charter of the Miners' Bank. 
In 1S46 it reached the point where the total abolition 
of all banks and banking business was demanded. And 
to satisfy this demand the following provision was incor- 
porated in the constitution under which Iowa became a 
State: 

No corporate body shall hereafter be created, renewed or extended, 
with the privilege of making, issuing, or putting in circulation, any bill, 
check, ticket, certificate, promissory note, or other paper, or the paper 
of any bank, to circulate as money. The General Assembly of this 
State shall prohibit, by law, any person or persons, association, com- 
pany or corporation, from exercising the privileges of banking, or creat- 
ing paper to circulate as money. ^ 

Iowa remained without banks until 1S57, or for about 
twelve years. By the new State constitution drafted in 
1857, banking business w^as again legahzed."^ In 1858, 
"An Act to Incorporate the State Bank of lowa"^ and 
"An Act authorizing General Banking in the State of 
lowa"^ were passed by the General Assembly. 

1 Morris Reports (Iowa), page 482. 

2 See Chapter IV on "The Territorial Capital," pages 68, 69. 

3 Article IX, Section i of Constitution (1846). 
* Article VIII of Constitution (1857). 

5 Stat. Laws of Iowa, 7th Gen. Ass'y, page 125. 
« Ibid^ page 215. 



lOO Iowa City. 

An Era of Progress. 

It has already been observed that the growth and 
development of Iowa City during the first two years of 
its existence was phenomenal.^ But as early as 1842 a 
reaction had set in. There was a great decrease in real 
estate values; business congested; and the ambitious 
attempts in education failed completely. However, with 
the admission of Iowa into the Union in 1846, with all 
the privileges and powers of a sovereign State, the tide 
of fortune again turned in favor of the capital city. 

The constitutional conventions of 'fortv-four and 
'forty-six had added much to the reputation of Iowa 
City abroad. For throughout the Territory the con- 
stitutions were discussed and incidentally Iowa Cit}' 
would receive mention in the same breath. Then be- 
sides there was the added dignity of being the State 
capital. With the increase of population there had 
been a corresponding increase of public business. The 
Assembly expanded, and new public offices were cre- 
ated. And all this helped to intensify the activities at 
the capital. 

The re-invigoration was soon perceptible. In May, 
1847, the Standard records that: "At no time within 
two or three years past has there been such a show of 
active business operations in our city as at present. The 
merchants have fine stocks of goods and seem to be 
driving a profitable trade in their respective lines; the 
mechanics are busily employed; the citizens enjoy good 
health; and in every part of the town there is a general 
righting up of houses, door-yards, gardens and enclos- 
ures, indicating a reaction of public spirit. The countr}^ 

1 Chapter III on "The Beginnings of Municipal Life," pages 37, 38. 



The State Capital. loi 

having taken a healthy start, we may now look forward 
to a steady improvement." ^ 

And this, let it be remembered, was the glorious 
period in the history of Iowa City, the era of progress 
— from the meeting of the first two constitutional con- 
ventions in 1844 and 1846 to the meeting of the third 
convention in 1857. Just beginning to realize the vast 
possibilities of her resources, Iowa felt strong in the 
vigor of youth; and as the capital, Iowa City partook of 
this robust and exuberant feeling. Furthermore the 
town was now influenced by the touch of such high- 
minded men as Robert Lucas, John Chambers, James 
Harlan, W. Penn Clarke and Samuel J. Kirkwood. 

Iowa City was the seat of high courts of justice. The 
Supreme Court of Iowa met in the northeast room on 
the lower floor of the Capitol. And from time to time 
the United States District Court met in the same room. 

During this period Iowa City became historic as the 
birth-place of the fundamental principles of Iowa law 
and jurisprudence. The three state constitutions, as 
well as the code of 1S51, were all drafted in Iowa City. 

Early Railroad Projects. 

Iowa City was just beginning to feel the impulse of 
a renew^ed life, when by the entrance of railroads into 
the city of Chicago, there was aroused throughout the 
West a oeneral interest in railroad construction. In 
Iowa this interest was most active in and around Du- 
buque,2 where on the nth of March, 184S a large public 
meeting^ was held for the purpose of taking steps in 

1 lozva Staiidard-, New Series, Vol. I, No. 45. 

^ Ibid,\o\. II, No. 26. 

3 " Dubuque" in loz.a Standard, New Series, Vol. II, No. 26. 



I02 lovjti City. 

reference to a railroad that would connect Lake Michi- 
gan with the Mississippi 1 and extend into Iowa. At the 
same time the people of Bloomington^ (Muscatine), Iowa 
City, Keokuk, Davenport and Burlington were not asleep 
to the advantages of railroads. Moreover, Iowa City, 
being the capital of the State, was naturally the objec- 
tive point of all the early raih-oads projected within the 
limits of Iowa. 

The lirst railroad proposed within the Hmits of Iowa 
was to run from Dubuque to Keokuk via Iowa City 
through the counties of Dubuque, Jones, Linn, Johnson, 
Washington, Henry and Lee. And so considerable was 
the interest taken in this scheme that in January, 1848, 
the General x\ssembly memorialized Congress for lands 
to be appropriated in the construction of a railroad from 
Dubuque to Keokuk.^ 

In December, 1848, the board of directors for the 
Dubuque «& Keokuk Railroad met at Iowa City and 
elected Maj. L. H. Langworthy, of Dubuque, President; 
P. R. Skinner, of Anamosa, Secretary; and J. H. Fisher, 
of Iowa City, Treasurer. At this meeting the directors 
listened to a report of the engineer appointed to make 
a reconnoisance of the proposed route. According to 
this report the length of the route was estimated at 
about one hundred and ninety-six miles. The super- 
structure contemplated was to consist of " longitudinal 
sills, cross sills and rails, all of timber, the rails sur- 
mounted with iron plates." As estimated, the cost of 

1 This was known as the Chicago (Jc Galena Raih-oad. — lo-cva Stand- 
ard, New Series, Vol. II, No. 17. 

* See Bloomington Herald, New Series, Vol. 11, Nos. S3, 86. 
3 Stat. Laws of Iowa, Extra Session, 1S47-4S, page 100. 



The State Capital. 103 

the road completed and read}- for cars was to be $2,071.- 
7SS.00. 1 The detailed report of the engineer was pre- 
sented to the General Assembly, and accepted by that 
body in January-, 1849, ^" ^ ]om\. resolution memorializ-. 
ing Congress a second time for a grant of lands to aid 
in the construction of the proposed road. 2 In 185 1, the 
company was granted a right of wa}- ;3 but the Dubuque 
& Keokuk Railroad was never constructed. 

Besides the Dubuque and Keokuk project the other 
proposed roads were: The Davenport & Council Bluffs 
Railroad, to run " from Davenport via Bloomington 
(Muscatine), Iowa City and Fort Des Moines to some 
suitable point near Council Bluffs on the Missouri 
River;""* the Camanche & Council Bluffs Railroad, to 
run "from Camanche in Clinton County via Dewitt, 
Tipton, Iowa City and Fort Des Moines to Council 
Bluffs on the Missouri River ;"» and the Lyons Iowa 
Central Railroad, to run "from the Narrows of the Mis- 
sissippi River in the town of Lyons, in Clinton County 
[via Iowa City] to Council Bluffs." « 

Davenport & Iowa City Railroad Company. 

On the 14th day of October, 1S50, the Davenport & 
Iowa City Railroad Company w^as organized by a few 
of the citizens of Iowa City who on that day met at the 
office of George S. Hampton. James P. Carleton was 
elected President; LeGrand Byington, Treasurer; and 

1 Stat. Laws of Iowa, 2nd Gen. Ass'y, Resolution No. 5, page 171. 

8 Ibid^ page 171. 

8 Stat. Laws of Iowa, 3rd Gen. Ass'y, page 129. 

* Stat. Laws of Iowa, 2nd Gen. Ass'y, Resolution 15, page 184. 
5 Stat. Laws of Iowa, 3rd Gen. Ass'y, page 70. 

* Ibid, page 95. 



I04 lozva City. 

Henr}' W. Lathrop, Secretary.^ Five thousand dollars 
had already been subscribed to the capital stock of the 
company. - 

The people of Davenport had already expressed their 
willingness to concur with the citizens of Iowa City in 
this new enterprise, when, on the 2ist of October, 1850, 
at a special meeting of the Board of Directors held at 
Iowa City, LeGrand Byington was authorized to pro- 
ceed to Davenport and Rock Island for the purpose of 
procuring the services of an engineer to make a survey 
of the proposed route. ^ Soon afterwards the necessary 
surveys w^ere made by one, Richard P. Morgan.'* The 
notes of the survey, along with an estimate of the cost 
of constructing a road and of the probable amount of 
business, were then published in pamphlet form and dis- 
tributed throughout the East, the object being to get 
eastern capitalists interested in the proposed railroad.^ 

At a regular meeting of the Board of Directors held 
at Iowa City on the 2nd of November, it was resolved 
to send a memorial to Congress praying for a grant of 
lands. ^ In January, 1S51, the use of "Center Market'"' 
in Iowa City was granted to the company by the Gen- 
eral Assembly as well as a right of way through the 
State. 8 

It was, however, not so much the sincere object of 
the Davenport & Iowa City Railroad Compan}' to build 

1 Original MS. Records of the D. & I. C. R. R. Co., page i. 
* Ibid^ page i- 
' Ibid^ page 3. 

4 Ibid, page 9. 

5 Oral testimony of the company's Secretary, H. W. Lathrop. 
« Original MS. Records of the D. & I. C. R. R. Co., page 5. 

'' Stat. Laws of Iowa, 3rd Gen. Ass'y, page 19. 
** Ibid, page 22. 



The State Capital. 105 

a railroad as it was their purpose to survey a route, 
obtain a right of wav, show up the feasibility of building 
railroads in Iowa, and, when the opportunity should pre- 
sent itself, to transfer their rights and property to the 
tirst railroad company that proposed to enter the State, 
provided Iowa City be made a point in the construction 
and operation of the road.i The desired opportunity 
came with the organization of the Mississippi & Missouri 
Railroad Company at Chicago in 1853. 

Mississippi & Missouri Railroad Company. 

At the meeting of the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad 
Company in Chicago in May, 1853, LeGrand Byington 
represented the interests of the Davenport & Iowa City 
Railroad Company, and W. Penn Clarke, assisted by 
LeGrand Byington, was delegate on behalf of the peo- 
ple of Iowa City. After the Chicago meeting the lead- 
ing men of the M. & M. R. R. Co. appeared in Iowa 
Citv, and at a public meeting unfolded their plans as 
follows : 

1. They assumed to build the tirst division of the 
main line to Iowa City in two years. 

2. To extend a branch from Iowa City to the Min- 
nesota line, through Cedar Rapids. 

3. To construct and operate another branch from 
Iowa City through Washington to the Missouri at St. 
Joseph. 

4. To pay all interest on county and city bonds issued 
until the road paid dividends at the rate of 10 per cent. 

In consideration whereof they required local stock 
subscriptions to the amount of about $140,000. 

About $30,000 was immediately subscribed by the 

1 Oral testimony of the companv's Secretarv, H. W. La'throp. 



io6 lozva City, 

citizens. Soon afterwards bonds were voted by Johnson 
County to the amount of $50,000 and by Iowa Cit}- to 
the same amount. And the Davenport & Iowa City 
Raih-oad Company transferred to the M. & M. R. R. 
Co., all their rights, franchises, property and stock on 
the conditions heretofore named. 

The work on the main division of the road from Dav- 
enport to Iowa City, which was begun at once, was to 
be completed by the ist day of January, 1856. As the 
eventful day approached there was great excitement and 
stir in Iowa City. The citizens resolved to hold a grand 
railroad festival on the 3rd of January, and donated 
$2,600 to meet expenses. Invitations were sent out to 
prominent citizens of Chicago, Rock Island, Dubuque, 
Burlington and other Iowa towns. 

On the last day of December it was feared that the 
road would not be finished that da}\ Whereupon a 
number of the citizens of Iowa City laid hold of the 
work with their own hands. Their labors were con- 
tinued far into the night and in the light of large wood 
fires and burning tar barrels presented a dramatic scene. 

At two o'clock January 3rd, the booming of guns 
announced the arrival of seven cars tilled with guests, 
who were received by the citizens and escorted to the 
Capitol. Here they were w^elcomed by LeGrand Bying- 
ton, the President of the day. Dr. Maxwell, of Chicago, 
responded on behalf of the guests. Then follow^ed the 
banquet with toasts and speeches. The old stone Capi- 
tol never witnessed a more jo3'ous occasion. It was 
long after midnight when the last strains of music hushed 
and the last foot-falls resounded through the corridors of 
the Capitol. 

Having reached Iowa City in January, 1S56, the M. 
& M. R. R. Co. did not for several years extend their 



The State Capital. 107 

road farther west. This fact contributed much to the 
importance and growth of Iowa City; for, being the 
terminus of the only raih-oad in Iowa, the traffic and 
immigration to interior Iowa necessarily passed directly 
through the town. The era of progress which had set 
in about 1S47, continued; and Iowa City now' grew 
rapidly, notwithstanding she was about to lose her dis- 
tinction as the capital city. 

A Municipal Corporation. 

Without an organized form of municipal government 
for a period of fourteen years, Iowa Cit}^ was finally 
incorporated under special articles of incorporation pass- 
ed b}' the General Assembl}- and approved on the 24th 
of January, 1853. 

Previous to this, however, there had been an attempt 
to maintain a town government which after a trial of 
several months proved ineffectual. The officers elected 
at the time were: James Robinson, Mayor; Anson 
Hart, Secretary; Thomas Ricord, Treasurer. Ebenezer 
Sangster, who had been appointed Marshal, at once pro- 
ceeded to carry out the duties of his office by ordering 
the inhabitants to clean up the streets and alleys. These 
orders, unfortunately, led him into difficulty; for the 
inhabitants were so unaccustomed to the commands of a 
town officer that in many cases they flatly refused to 
obey. But the real crisis of this administration came 
when the officers, finding it necessary to obtain money 
for the support of the government, levied a municipal 
tax. This tax the people refused to pay. Whereupon 
the officers, disgusted at being left without financial sup- 
port, dropped their official duties and returned to their 
ordinary pursuits. 



io8 lozva City. 

On Wednesday, the 6th of April, 1853, the following 
officers of Iowa City took the oath of office before 
George S. Hampton, Clerk of the Supreme Court of 
Iowa: Jacob DeForest, Mayor; Anson Hart, Recorder; 
C. H. Buck, Treasurer; Robert Hutchinson, Marshal; 
Benjamin King, Assessor; and Edward Lanning, Wil- 
liam H. Hunt, Thomas Snyder, Franz P, Brossart, Wil- 
liam Penn Clarke, Peter Roberts, Peter Statzer and John 
Van Fleet, Aldermen. On the evening of the same day 
these officers held their first meeting in the Capitol. 

Municipal Improvements. 

Up to the time of its incorporation Iowa City must 
certainly have presented a ragged appearance. The 
streets were neither paved nor graded. In many places 
thev were almost impassable on account of brush and 
stumps of trees. With the exception of a few hundred 
feet on Clinton street there were no sidewalks. One 
hundred and fourteen dogs ran loose untaxed; and 
droves of hogs, running at large, rooted in the streets 
and before private door yards. Indeed the hog had 
become an obnoxious public nuisance. 

To the task of remedying this condition of affairs the 
new administration at once applied its energies. An 
ordinance to "provide for Cleaning of Streets, Roads 
and Sidewalks" passed by the City Council on the 
13th of April was soon followed by others relating to 
nuisances, street grading, the removal of brush and 
stumps, and sidewalks. Hogs were prohibited from 
running at large; and all dogs were taxed. In Feb- 
ruarv, 1855, a Board of Health was created. In Decem- 
ber, 1856, a permit to light the town by gas for twenty 
years was granted to David R. B. Nevin & Co. 



The State Capital. 109 

A Political Center. 

From 1839 ^*^ 1S57, Iowa City, being the capital, was 
the nerve-center of Iowa politics. It was the seat of the 
General Assembly and the town of public conventions of 
all kinds. From January to January the atmosphere 
was full of politics. During the sessions of the General 
Assembly discussions naturally became more vehement 
and heated; for all eyes in the State were then turned 
towards the capital. Lobbyists appeared at the hotels 
and plied their profession with much zeal; yet the lobby 
in those davs is insignificant when compared to the 
body of persons that now hovers about the Capitol at 
Des Moines to "influence" public officials. 

Then too the members of the earher Assemblies were 
not so open to political intrigues and jobbery. Mostly 
farmers, they were as a rule straight-forward honest 
men, and did what seemed to them their dut}^ towards 
their fellow citizens. It is true that their narrow-minded- 
ness sometimes led them into blunders; but such mis- 
takes were due to ignorance and not to corruption. In 
a certain respect they were at one with their successors. 
They were parsimonious. In practicing their economy 
they were over-zealous. Their conception of public 
business was narrowed by their ideas of private enter- 
prise. To appropriate more money than could be readily 
counted on one's fingers was to them a great waste of 
public funds. 

Full of life and energy while the General Assembly 
was in session, Iowa City was certainly dull when the 
members had finished their public business and departed 
to their homes. During the period of adjournment the 
town was even more forsaken than it now is after com- 
mencement. 



VII. 

REMOVAL OF THE CAPITAL. 

Agitation for Removal. 

The same arfjument that led to the location of the 
capital in Johnson County in 1S39, forced its removal to 
Des Moines in 1857. I refer to the argument that the 
capital of a Territory or State ought to command a 
central location, both geographically and with respect to 
the future mass of population. 

No sooner had Iowa become a State than it was 
observed, especially by the inhabitants of the Des Moines 
valley, that the location of Iowa City was far from the 
geographical center of the State as bounded by the con- 
stitution of 1846. Hence the public mind began to 
look forward to an ultimate change in the location of 
the capital.^ But the change did not come without a 
struggle. 

At the first session of the General Assembly which 
met at Iowa City in December, 1846, the question of 
removal was first brought up, and at the time was dis- 
cussed with considerable interest. The argument based 
on the principle of central \oz?i\\ovi was a strong one; but 
the opposition were undoubtedly in the right when they 
maintained that immediate removal w'ould be premature. 
For the center of population had not yet passed Iowa 

1 Stat. Laws of Iowa, 1st Gen. Ass'y, page 204. 



Removal of the Capital. 1 1 1 

City. Shortly before the close of the session the discus- 
sion ended in a compromise, that proposed to leave Iowa 
City in possession of the State University upon the 
removal of the capital farther west. With this under- 
standing" "An Act to provide for the location of the 
Seat of Government of the State of Iowa and for the 
selection of land granted by Congress^ to aid in erecting 
Public Buildings " was passed by the General Assembly 
and approved on the 22nd of February 1847.2 By this 
act, John Brown, Joseph Hoag and John Taylor wpre 
appointed commissioners to meet in the month of May, 
1847, and examine the State for the purpose of selecting 
land and of making a location for the permanent seat of 
government, which location must be near the geographi- 
cal center of the State. ^ 

MoTs^ROE City. 

In accordance with their instructions from the General 
Assembl}- the above named commissioners met in Henry 
County^ and proceeded to examine such parts of the 
State as they deemed expedient; and after an examina- 
tion of a considerable portion of the unsettled as well as 
the settled parts of the State, they selected five sections 
of land in Jasper County, nameh': Sections four, five, 
eight, nine, the west half of section three and the west 
half of section ten, all in township sevent3'-eight north, 
range twenty west of the fifth Principal Meridian. ^ On 

1 Five sections of land were granted by Congress in an act passed 
March 3rd, 1S45. — U. S. Stat, at Large, Vol. V, page 790. 

2 Stat. Laws of Iowa, ist Gen. Ass'y, page S5. 
' [bid, page 85. 

* Report of Commissioners, House Jour., 2nd Gen. Ass'y, page 199. 
5 Ibid, page 199. 



112 Iowa City. 

these lands the commissioners caused to be laid out a 
town which they called Monroe City.^ 

After Monroe City had been surveyed and platted the 
commissioners gave notice of a public sale of lots. The 
sale was begun on the 28th of October and continued 
from day to day until the 2nd of November. Four 
hundred and rifteen lots were sold at these sales. 
One of the commissioners alone purchased thirty-eight 
lots — for which he paid the average price of about $6.50 
per lot. 

The location of Monroe City, however, met with gen- 
eral disapproval throughout the State. The people of 
the Des Moines valley, for whose special benefit the 
removal had been made, called a public meeting to 
protest against the action of the commissioners. Even 
those who had so strongly advocated removal, now that 
the location had been made nearer the geographical 
center of the State, began to feel that it was absurd to 
remove the capital while yet the center of population 
remained east of Iowa City. Indeed, so universal was 
the dissatisfaction that at the next session of the General 
Assembly an act was passed vacating the town of Mon- 
roe City.- Thus the first agitation for removal proved 
abortive and Iowa City remained the capital ten years 
lonfjer. 

Note. — The proceeds of the sale of the five sections of land, granted 
by Congress to the State of Iowa and selected by the commissioners in 
Jasper County as the location for the capital, were afterwards appropri- 
ated for the use and benefit of the Iowa Agricultural College in the 
original act establishing said College in 185S.— See Stat. Laws of Iowa, 
7th Gen. Ass'v, page 774. 

1 Report of Commissioners, House Jour., 2nd Gen. Ass'v, page 199. 

2 The act vacating Monroe City also provided for refunding all money 
received in payment for lots purchased in said town. — Stat. Laws of 
Iowa, 2nd Gen. Ass'y, page 147. 



Removal of the Capital. 113 

Des Moines. 

The Monroe City episode had the immediate effect of 
weakening the party in favor of removing the capital. 
But they still argued for a central location, ^ and finally, 
when the 5th General Assembly met at Iowa City in 
the winter of 1854-55, succeeded in passing "An Act 
to relocate the seat of Government. ^ 

This act, which was approved on the 25th of January, 
1S55, provided, that five commissioners, appointed by the 
Governor, shall select a site within two miles of the 
junction of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers in Polk 
County; and that "it shall be the duty of the commis- 
sioners in making the relocation to obtain at least as 
much land as is necessary for the capital buildings, and 
ma}' be practicable to obtain without charge to the State, 
and also any and all grants and donations of land and 
town lots, within their power to the State." ^ 

In compliance with the above act the commissioners 
appointed by the Governor selected as a site for the 
permanent seat of government of the State the land 
upon which the present Capitol of Iowa stands in the 
city of Des Moines on the east side of the Des Moines 
River. 

Third Constitutional Convention. 

On the day previous to the one on which the act to 
relocate the seat of government was approved, an act of 
equal importance received the signature of the Governor. 
This was an act submitting to a vote of the people the 
question of a constitutional convention to revise and 

1 See House Jour, of 3rd Gen. Ass'y, pages 236, 2S9. 
* Stat. Laws of Iowa, 5th Gen. Ass'y, page 105. 
3 Ihid^ page 106. 



114 Iowa City. 

amend the constitution of 1846.* At the general election 
held on the first Monday in August, 1856, the people 
decided in favor of revision — they had grown weary of 
the clause in the constitution of 1846 which abolished 
banks — and on the Tuesday after the first Monday in 
November elected delegates to a convention. 

This convention, the third of its kind called into exist- 
ence by the people of Iowa, assembled at Iowa City on 
the 19th day of January, 1857.2 The General Assem- 
bly being yet in session at the Capitol, the convention 
held its meetings for a few days in the Supreme Court 
room, which on account of its size was somewhat incon- 
venient. ^ On the 20th, permanent organization was 
effected with Francis Springer as President. ^ On the 
29th the General Assembly adjourned, after which the 
convention occupied the more convenient halls of the 
Assembly. After a session of forty-five days the third 
constitutional convention adjourned sine die.^ 

The constitution drafted by this convention — known 
as the constitution of 1857 — was submitted to the peo- 
ple and approved by them at the general election in 
August, 1857. 

The constitution of 1857, like the constitutions of 1844 
and 1846, contained an elaborately drawn bill of rights, 
defined the conditions of suffrage, and besides prescrib- 
ing the form of government in its legislative, executive 

J Stat. Laws of Iowa, 5th Gen. Ass'y, page 1 14. 

2 Journal of Convention, page 3. 

^ Familiar with the situation the city councils of both Dubuque and 
Davenport offered to entertain the convention and furnish suitable 
accommodations in case the convention decided to remove from Iowa 
City. — See Journal of Convention, pages 6, 7. 

* Ibid^ P^ge ' o. 

5 Ibid, page 389. 



Remoz-cd of the Capital. 115 

and judicial departments, embraced detailed legislation 
respecting state debts, corporations, education and 
school lands, and miscellaneous topics. The several 
constitutions of Iowa have alike conformed to the gen- 
eral tendency in American commonwealths to legislative 
enactments by constitutional conventions. This tendency, 
developed no doubt by the desire to secure permanence 
in legislation, marks on the one hand the confidence of 
the people in itself, while on the other hand it intimates 
a suspicion of the shifting caprice of successive Assem- 
blies. It is an incident to democratic government, at 
least in its formative period, and constitutes in its most 
pronounced form the American type of the Swiss refer- 
endum. The location of the State University at Iowa 
City by the constitutional convention of 1857 is a fine 
example of an enactment by the convention purely legis- 
lative. 

The Great Compromise. 

The struggle over the permanent location of the capi- 
tal was a long one. Begun at the first session of the 
General Assembly of the State, it was waged incessantly 
for a period of eleven years. It generated a feeling of 
sectional jealousy so strong that from the beginning it 
was evident that the question could be settled onl}' by 
a compromise. 

Accordmgly the first formal proposal for the removal 
of the capital farther west contemplated the establish- 
ment of a State University at Iowa City. This compro- 
mise was reluctantly entertained by the people of Iowa 
City — they insisted on holding the capital. But when, 
in the course of time, they saw that the argument in 
favor of central location would ultimately prevail, the}' 



Ii6 lozva City. 

acquiesced and petitioned the General Assembly for the 
State University. Thereupon two acts were passed b}- 
the General Assembly in February, 1857? one providing- 
for the relocation of the capital, and the other establish- 
ing the State University at Iowa City. The location of 
the capital in Jasper County, however, was disapproved, 
and the organization of the State University delayed. 

When the third constitutional convention assembled at 
Iowa Citv in January, 1857, Des Moines had already 
been selected as the site for the capital and the State 
Universit}^ had been put into actual operation at Iowa 
City. To make the arrangement more binding the con- 
vention incorporated this great compromise into the new 
constitution : 

The Seat of Government is hereby permanentlj established, as now 
fixed by law, at the City of Des Moines, in the county of Polk; and the 
State University at Iowa City in the county of Johnson. 



In the fall of 1857, the capital was removed to Des 
Moines. The archives of the State were all transported 
overland; for the Mississippi & Missouri Railroad Com- 
pany had not yet extended their road beyond Iowa City. 
The snows of the winter of 1857-58 had begun to fall 
when the public safe, the last article to be removed, was 
loaded on two bobsleds and drawn b}' ten yoke of oxen 
from the old capital to the new. 



IOWA CITY 



CONTRIBUTION 



TO THE 



EARLY HISTORY OF IOWA 



BY 

BENJAMIN F. SHAMBAUGH, M. A. 



Published by the 

STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA 

IOWA CITY, IOWA 

1893 



IOWA 

State Historical Society 

IOWA CITY, IOWA. 



INCORPORATED 1867. 



The object of the Iowa State Historical Society is to 
collect and preserve such books, manuscripts and other 
material as will be of use to students of history — espe- 
cially students of Iowa history. 

LIBRARY. 

The library of this Society is located at Iowa City, 
Iowa. It is open to the public in general on Wednes- 
days and Saturdays, and to special students on all other 
days. 

PUBLICATIONS. 

The Iowa Historical Record is issued quarterly and 
contains miscellaneous articles on topics of Iowa history. 

Other publications consist of lectures dehvered before 
the Society, and monographs prepared by special 
students. 

OFFICERS. 

J. L. PiCKARD, LL.D., President. 

M. B. Cochran, M.D., Vice-President. 

Lyman Parsons, Treasurer. 

M. W. Davis, Secretary. 

H. W. Lathrop, Librarian. 



